JOHN GOODMAN suffered from alcoholism and depression for almost his entire life. He confessed “nothing” would stop him from having a drink if he had convinced himself to do so. He has also noted he looked like a “walking heart attack”. But since then, he has fought back against his demons and lived to tell the tale.
Earlier this week, on June 20, 2022, the legendary actor John Goodman turned 70-years-old. But before the Borrowers star became immensely famous by appearing in such pictures as The Flinstones, Blues Brothers, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski etc, the American star had become downtrodden with some painful personal issues.
Goodman has been very open about his struggles with alcoholism throughout his career. The star suffered from the illness for more than 30 years. And it hugely affected his life.
During an interview in 2012, he confessed the drinking was “certainly” affecting his acting work as well.
In what way?: “Temperament. Memory. Depression.”
In another interview in 2015, he explained just how “bad” his drinking got
Goodman said: “I mean, there’s many times I could have gone under. Not overdosed, but… well… misadventure.”
The star got sober in 2007, but he confessed it was a daily struggle to stay on the wagon. It got to the point where he was “having dreams” about tracking down some bourbon and knocking it back.
“I’ll go: ‘Hey, I shouldn’t be doing that,’” he would remember. “And then I’ll go: ‘Waaah, that’s OK! You do it all the time! You sneak it all the time!’ And then I’ll wake up and go: ‘No, I don’t.’ [The voices] were worrisome at first. Now they’re just funny.” (Via The Guardian)
Goodman added: “I want to keep going to places where there is positive reinforcement, so I don’t get to the place where there are triggers. Because I don’t think anything on God’s green Earth could stop me if I really wanted to drink.”
He also confessed that the “constant threat of unemployment” that comes with being an actor factored into his drinking.
“Alcohol is alcohol. I’m an alcoholic,” he opened up. “I would drink no matter what. That’s just part of being an alcoholic – you find any excuse. But as for the stress, I’ve lived a stressful life. I’ve made it more stressful by drinking and using drugs, and the business I have chosen is always a nail-biter… there was a constant threat of unemployment.”
He mused: “For some reason, I just denied what I was doing to myself. It’s a miracle anyone would hire me at all, looking at me. I looked like a walking heart attack.” (Via Men’s Health)
So he found a different way of dealing with it.