Recovering alcoholic Will Arnett admits to drinking again while making his new Netflix show
Ken Ishii/Getty
Will Arnett may be a sought-after comedian who has found major success since playing the dim-witted Gob Bluth on “Arrested Development,” but like many in Hollywood, he has battled with staying sober.
In a profile for The Hollywood Reporter, Arnett admits that while working on his new Netflix series, “Flaked,” which he cocreated and stars in, he had his first drink in 15 years.
“Hardly anybody knows this,” he told THR, “but I started drinking again.”
Back in 2000, while still trying to make a name for himself in the business, Arnett began drinking heavily after the NBC sitcom he was on, "The Mike O'Malley Show," was canceled after only two episodes.
Stuck in a rut and not able to fall back on any voiceover work since there was a commercial strike, Arnett “spent four to five months doing nothing and feeling sorry for myself,” he said.
Finally a close friend intervened and got him into Alcoholics Anonymous.
His career and personal life improved. Along with getting “Arrested Development,” he also began dating Amy Poehler, whom he would later marry (the two divorced in 2012).
Ken Ishii/GettyBut while making “Flaked,” he got the urge to drink again.
“As I was writing all this s--- [on 'Flaked'] and I started shooting it, I started getting confused about where I was at,” he said.
Seeing the path he was going down was a dark one, Arnett called a friend whom he helped get sober years earlier, and got the support he needed. He said he's been sober for at least a few months and is back in AA meetings.
“I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I’m smart enough to know that this is not where I want to live,” Arnett said. “And I’m a dad now, a parent first and foremost.”
In “Flaked,” Arnett plays a recovering alcoholic who tries to inspire others through his inspirational stories (he sneaks a drink here and there, however). Arnett said if the show gets a second season, a storyline he wants to explore is Chip getting help from his friend Dennis (David Sullivan) to get truly sober.
"I described it at a meeting recently like a whistle off in the distance for a train you know is coming for you," he told THR of wanting a drink. "It was a bummer, but it happens. And for me, it happened as easily as it had [the first time]: It was right there."
Read the complete THR profile here.