After 16 years of being sober, actor and comedian Dax Shepard revealed he has been battling an opioid addiction.
The revelation came Friday during the latest episode of his popular podcast “Armchair Expert.”
“An episode I hoped I’d never have to record, but one I felt I owed to all the beautiful Armcheries who have been on this ride with me for the last couple years,” Shepard said in an Instagram post announcing the episode.
In the episode, Shepard — known for his roles on “Parenthood” — detailed the bumps of his journey, most recently dealing with an addiction to Vicodin, the opioid painkiller. For the last eight weeks, he said, he had been “on them all day,” after taking them originally for injuries.
This led to a situation where he was “taking, you know, eight 30s a day, and I know that’s an amount that’s going to result in a pretty bad withdrawal. And I start getting really scared, and I’m starting to feel really lonely. And I just have this enormous secret.”
At first Shephard said he tried to fix the problem himself by slowly weaning off the pills — but it didn’t work.
But this month, he revealed his addiction to wife Kristen Bell and his friends. As of Friday, he is on day 11 of being sober once more.
Shepard has previously dealt with addiction to cocaine and alcohol, which he says he has not touched in 16 years. The actor has been open about his recovery journey, discussing it in the past on his podcast and in interviews.
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