John Stamos Opens Up About Alcohol Addiction in Memoir
John Stamos’ new memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, was released on the same day as Britney Spears’ memoir (October 24). The Full House alum, who is 60 years old, addresses the highs and lows he’s experienced over the years. He reflects with People about the bombshells in his book, including his years-long alcohol addiction. Starting in 2002, when he was on Broadway starring in Cabaret, the actor noticed his drinking habits increased.
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Sipping red wine while getting ready, Stamos admitted it is “not a recommended acting method,” but it helped him early in his career to get him to drop his “inhibitions and abandon any fear.” He reveals to the publication: “Alcoholism is genetic. Hereditary. My parents both enjoyed imbibing regularly. They functioned well and never considered stopping. Proclivities can lie dormant within for a while, but I’m pushing my luck, drinking a bottle of wine every performance (including matinees),” he shared, noting that it “feels like I might be awakening a sleeping monster.”
A year later, Stamos’ drinking habits carried over to his role in Broadway’s Nine in 2003. He recalled having panic attacks in the show’s first ten minutes, so he turned to his “old Cabaret trick: a bottle of red.” Slowly slipping back into drinking after a brief stint of sobriety, Stamos showed up drunk to an Australian interview after downing 17 shots of espresso and vodka.
A Dangerous Wake-Up Call
In another revelation in his memoir, Stamos opened up about a scary moment in June 2015 when he was driving while under the influence of multiple substances on his way to dinner with co-star a friend, Bob Saget. “I don’t want to kill myself, but there’s a selfishness in death that I flirt with. I’m faded in my car. It’s okay if I die. Fine. I’ve done it all; crossed everything off my list. Got the fame, got the girls, got the sitcom, got to play with The Beach Boys. The end. I’m good to go, in the literal sense,” he wrote.
He eventually pulled over, and police found him “blacked out, slumped in my seat like a scarecrow.” Waking up in the hospital with Saget by his bedside along with Stamos’ sisters, they had attempted to track him down for hours. “I’ve seen the TMZ video and pictures from that night. It makes me sick to my stomach. I’m spinning around the streets, out of my f—ing mind. I could have killed a kid, wiped out a family or a grandmother coming home from Bible study,” he wrote. “I’m jeopardizing everything in my life: my career, reputation, and worst of all, the kid my parents raised, a guy I kind of like.” Stamos entered rehab a month later and was charged with a DUI in October.
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