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Josh Brolin is opening up about his long road to sobriety.
“I was born to drink. I was birthed to drink. My mother drank exactly like I did, and I was raised to be a man and drink like the male equivalent of my mother,” Brolin, 56, wrote in his new memoir, From Under the Trunk, per The Sunday Times.
Per the outlet, Brolin first tried marijuana at 9 and dropped acid at 13, leading him into a long road of substance abuse, particularly alcoholism.
One year after his mother died at age 55, his father, James Brolin, pursued a romance with Barbra Streisand. Josh recalled her being “just a little confused” by his behavior. When he walked into James and Streisand’s home and asked for a glass of red wine, Josh said the actress was blunt with her response. “But aren’t you a drunk?” Streisand, 82, asked.
While reflecting on the moment during a Sunday, November 17, interview with the outlet, Josh said, “There’s nothing I ultimately appreciate more in anybody than an ability to just say it, regardless of the reaction.”
Josh, who had previously had periods of sobriety, said he tried to keep his drinking away from his two eldest children. But there was one moment where his drinking “crossed a line” and affected his eldest kids. (Josh shares Trevor, 36, and Eden, 29, with his first wife, Alice Adair. After a marriage to Diane Lane, which ended in 2013, Josh tied the knot with Kathryn Boyd. The pair share daughters Westlyn, 6, and Chapel, 3. )
“It was about taking care of animals and not being there to take care of an animal for a moment,” he said. After the outlet asked if one of his children’s pets died, he replied, “No, but close. And I was, like, ‘That’s because of me.’ ”
In 2013, Josh recalled waking up hungover outside his house and remembering a fight at a fast food drive-through in Santa Monica. He picked himself up and went to his 99-year-old grandmother’s deathbed, where he was hit with the thought that he was at the midway point of her life.
At that moment, he decided to be sober. “I knew that was going to be the last time I drank,” Josh said.
He proceeded with rehab and joined Alcoholics Anonymous. “I like getting older. It’s like a great excuse to finally go, ‘OK, just mellow out, you don’t need to constantly spin,’” he said.
Josh noted that he has “more fun” while he’s sober. He added, “There’s nothing that I go through that I am absolutely certain wouldn’t be worse if I was drinking.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
