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Josh Brolin opens up on his journey to sobriety: 'I love being sober'

5:21
Josh Brolin talks new memoir, 'From Under the Truck'
Antony Jones/Getty Images, FILE
ByMason Leib
November 18, 2024, 5:17 PM

Actor Josh Brolin is opening up on his sobriety after cutting out alcohol over a decade ago.

The "Dune: Part Two" actor discussed maintaining his sobriety and life events that led him to become sober in a recent interview with the Times published on Saturday.

"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," writes Brolin, in an excerpt of his new memoir "From Under the Truck" obtained by The Times.

Brolin told the Times he had decided to commit himself to sobriety after visiting his grandmother on her deathbed when he was intoxicated in 2013.

"I knew that was going to be the last time I drank," said Brolin, who entered rehab, according to the Times interview.

Josh Brolin attends the World Premiere of "Dune: Part Two" at Leicester Square on Feb. 15, 2024 in London.
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images, FILE

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Brolin, who is 56, said aging has made being sober all the more easy.

"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.

In reflecting on his sobriety, Brolin shared that he has enjoyed staying away from drinking.

"I love being sober. I have more fun," he said, adding, "There's nothing that I go through that I am absolutely certain wouldn't be worse if I was drinking."

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Brolin told the Times that earlier in his career, his professional success, scoring leading roles in films like "W." and "No Country for Old Men," had "confused" him.

"I wasn't in the greatest frame of mind then. There was a lot of attention all of a sudden — I'd been doing it a long time with no attention. Suddenly it was calls from amazing people, people I respected … wanting to talk," he said.

Brolin also recalled how Barbra Streisand, who his father James Brolin is married to, reacted to his request for a glass of wine by asking, "But aren't you a drunk?"

Brolin said he appreciated the blunt reaction, adding "There's nothing I ultimately appreciate more in anybody than an ability to just say it, regardless of the reaction."

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Brolin shares two children with wife Kathryn Boyd, who he married in 2016. Brolin also shares two children with his first wife, Alice Adair.

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