Stand-up comedian John Mulaney has checked into rehab for cocaine and alcohol addiction, reported Page Six.
The American comic and former ‘Saturday Night Live’ cast member, Mulany, 38, is known for his frank material that discusses his own substance abuse struggles in the past.
He opened up to Esquire last year about beginning drinking at a young age.
“I drank for attention … I was really outgoing, and then at 12, I wasn’t. I didn’t know how to act. And then I was drinking, and I was hilarious again,” he told the publication.
Mulaney then began to abuse prescription drugs and cocaine.
“I wasn’t a good athlete, so maybe it was some young male thing of ‘This is the physical feat I can do. Three Vicodin and a tequila and I’m still standing. Who’s the athlete now?’” he told Esquire.
Mulaney has been sober since he was 23 years old, according to his Esquire profile. He didn’t use a recovery program at the time, but was able to “flip a switch”.
“I didn’t kill anyone or assault anyone. But yeah, I was like, ‘You’re [expletive] out of control. And I thought to myself, I don’t like this guy anymore. I’m not rooting for him,’” recalled Mulaney about a weekend shortly before he chose sobriety.
The comedy community has rallied around Mulaney and encouraged his pursuit of his own wellbeing.
Fellow comedian Patton Oswalt tweeted Mulaney a string of heart emojis.
“The only jokes I want to hear about @mulaney in rehab are the jokes he tells about it after he gets out,” wrote voice actor John DiMaggio.