Jason Bateman: Drinking & Drugging Nearly Cost Me My Marriage

July 8, 2009

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The Arrested Development star tells Details in their August issue that his young-adult life was similar to being in "Risky Business for 10 years... I'd worked so hard that by the time I was 20, I wanted to play hard. And I did that really well."

That behavior continued, though less frequently, when he actress Amanda Anka -- daughter of singer Paul Anka -- in 2001. Jason says he got more serious about looking for work, but still indulged in the occasional night out. About a year into their marriage, Amanda put her foot down and gave her husband an ultimatum: If he didn't end his party boy lifestyle, she wanted out.

"I was never at the place where rehab would have been appropriate," Jason, soon to appear opposite Jennifer Aniston in The Baster. "Booze was what would make me want to stay out all night and do some blow or smoke a joint or whatever, so shutting that off was key. It's like ketchup and French fries — I don't want one without the other."

But he was forced to make a choice when he discovered Anna jetted off to Mexico for their planned Christmas vacation — without him. So that's the moment," he tells the magazine. "Do you want to continue being great at being in your twenties, or do you want to step up and graduate into adulthood?"

As luck would have it, Jason ran into a newly-sober friend that day who invited him to attend an AA meeting. And the rest is history, though Jason admits to replacing his alcohol addiction with a new one: fantasy baseball. He's even in an online league with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.

"We go to Dodgers games and [Keith] spends the entire time keeping score, not saying a word," he says. "It's perfect."

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