Dax Shepard opened up about a recent relapse he had in his sobriety battle after celebrating being sober for 16 years.
The 45-year-old actor said he had recently relapsed, but admitted that he’s had a few struggles along the way and it has involved getting injured and turning to pain pills to take away the pain, per his “Armchair Expert” podcast. The comments were noted by E! News in a piece published Friday. (RELATED: Kristen Bell Opened Up About Her Marriage To Dax Shepard, Admitted It’s Anything But Perfect: ‘We Do Go To Therapy’)
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But about six months ago, he noticed he was finding what he called “shadier” ways to take the pills. (RELATED: Dax Shepard Says He’s ‘Pro’ His Kids ‘Doing’ Psychedelic Drugs, Just Avoid ‘Cocaine Or Opioids’)
“And I’ve not ever yet bought them,” Shepard explained. “And then I do…For the last eight weeks maybe, I don’t know…I’m on them all day. I’m allowed to be on them at some dosage because I have a prescription. And then I’m also augmenting that. And then all the prescriptions run out and I’m now just taking 30 mil Oxys that I’ve bought whenever I decide I can do [it].”
He said his co-host Monica Padman confronted him and he started lying to her.
“And I’m lying to other people and I know I have to quit,” the actor shared. “But my tolerance is going up so quickly that I’m now in a situation where I’m taking, you know, eight 30s a day, and I know that’s an amount that’s going to result in a pretty bad withdrawal.”
“I now start getting pretty visibly detoxy and withdrawly,” he added about trying to get off them. “And I lie and start saying I’m having an arthritis flare up.”
On September 1, his wife Kristen Bell had even noted how he had been sober for 16 years with a sweet post on Instagram. Dax said that day people were congratulating him and he was high.
“It was the worst hour of my life.” Shepard explained.
Then about two weeks ago, Dax and Padman were in the car and he decided it was time to come clean.
“I’m gaslighting you and I know I am,” the “Parenthood” star said. “And I’m making you feel crazy and I’m making Kristen [Bell] feel crazy.”
Then he decided it was time to get the two together and apologized and admitted he had been lying to both of them.
Shepard recalled next how it was time to go to a meeting and he said it was the most “incredible, like, 90 minutes I’ve ever experienced, where there was just so much love and so much understanding and kindness and unconditional love.”
At the end of the podcast, he proudly declared that “Today, I have seven days” sober.
It comes following reports about the actor being injured in a motorcycle accident in August.
