Jason Bateman: 'Child Fame Drove Me To Drink'

[JamesG]

Bateman: 'Childhood Fame Drove Me To Excess'
9 July 2009 5:11 AM, PDT

Former childhood star Jason Bateman blames his early rise to fame for turning him into a booze-addled wreck.

The 40 year old made his acting debut at the age of 11 in TV drama Little House on the Prairie and rose to stardom in shows such as The Hogan Family and Silver Spoons.

But the Arrested Development actor worked so hard through his childhood and teenage years that he spiralled out of control as he approached adulthood - likening the period to that of Tom Cruise's character in 1983 movie Risky Business.

He says, "It was like Risky Business for 10 years. My parents were out of town, they left me a bunch of money, the car, and the house, and I didn’t know when they were coming home. I’d worked so hard that by the time I was 20, I wanted to play hard. And I did that really well.”

Bateman decided to clean up his act after his wife, Amanda Anka, threatened to leave him.

He says, "I was never at a place where rehab would have been appropriate. 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. So that’s the moment: Do you want to continue being great at being in your twenties, or do you want to step up and graduate into adulthood?”

-IMDB News

[catlover79]

I'm glad he cleaned up his act. Others would do well to follow his example.