Looking back. John Mulaney is reflecting on his sobriety journey — including a difficult intervention before his 2020 rehab stay.
“I remember I walked into my intervention. I had just been to my drug dealer’s apartment and I finally got the right balance,” the former Saturday Night Live writer, 40, recalled during a Tuesday, April 18, appearance on the “This Past Weekend with Theo Von” podcast. “One pocket all coke. One pocket all Xanax and I was like ‘I have done it. I reached equilibrium.’”
After arriving back home, Mulaney remembered opening his front door and seeing a “bunch of people” waiting for him. After they began discussing their concerns over his alcohol and drug use, the Illinois native insisted that he “hadn’t used drugs” in several days.
John Mulaney Eric Charbonneau/Shutterstock
“I went, ‘Look I am sober right now. Look at me, I am sober right now,’ I kept saying,” Mulaney added on Tuesday.
The John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch alum got sober in September 2005 after a lengthy battle with substance abuse. Several years later, Mulaney relapsed. He ultimately checked himself into a rehab facility in December 2020 following the intervention.
“He had too much time in his own head,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly at the time, noting his then-wife, Anna Marie Tendler, and his family were relieved when he agreed to get treatment. “John has always been engaged in his sobriety. The relapse got ugly, but it was his choice to go to rehab, which saved his life.”
The Kid Gorgeous comedian left the institution nearly three months later in February 2021, shortly before splitting from Tendler, 37. (Their divorce was finalized in January 2022.)
“I packed a lot into this [last year]. … I went to rehab in September, I got out in October, I moved out of my home from my ex-wife,” Mulaney opened up about his experiences during a September 2021 appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, crediting Meyers, 41, for staging his 2020 intervention.
After leaving rehab, the stand-up comic connected with actress Olivia Munn in May 2021. During the Late Night segment, Mulaney confirmed the pair were expecting their first child together.
“Olivia and this baby have helped save me from myself in this early journey out of recovery,” he recalled to Meyers at the time.
Munn, 42, and Mulaney went on to welcome their son, Malcolm, in November 2021. The Big Mouth voice actor’s romance with the former Daily Show correspondent, as well as the pair embarking on first-time parenthood, have become driving points in Mulaney remaining sober.
“Olivia’s truly been his rock post-rehab and is super supportive of him,” a second source exclusively told Us in June 2022. “Being a father has certainly changed his perspective on life in that he realizes he has another human to take care of so he wants to be the best dad he can be and just be healthy and present for him.”
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If you or anyone you know is facing substance abuse issues, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for free and confidential information 24/7.
