George Clooney has opened up about his past drug use but insisted it was “never a big issue” for him.
The Jay Kelly actor recalled experimenting with cocaine, which is sometimes known as blow, as an up-and-coming star but wasn’t impressed with the substance, in part because it had been mixed with laxatives.
He told the new issue of Esquire magazine: “Eighty-two, I tried — I did blow and stuff. I used to make jokes about how I did too many drugs, but the truth is, it was never a big issue for me at all.
“And look, there was an episode of Taxi where they’re all doing blow. At the time, it was like, No, this is not like heroin. It’s not addictive. But then it was like, Oh, well, it’s actually pretty f****** bad.
“Plus, it was all cut with mannitol. The baby laxative. Everybody would do a line and then take a s***.”
The 64-year-old star also found marijuana was “not [his] drug” and told a story of getting high on weed brownies with friends around 15 years ago before sitting to watch The Wizard of Oz soundtracked by Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
He said: “We were f*****. I literal – I think all of us – there was like 20 of us in the screening room, and the movie ended, and we sat there without speaking for, like, hours. Hours! Like the sun was coming up and we’re – it’s just not my drug.”
During his run in Broadway’s Good Night, and Good Luck, George – who has eight-year-old twins Ella and Alexander with wife Amal – was largely sober except for the occasional glass of wine on a Sunday but after two months, he ended up “barely-walking” after hitting the bottle hard at the Tony Awards.
He admitted: “I got blasted. Barely-walking drunk, you know?
“I came home with Amal, and I was just laughing. We’re lying in bed, and I go, Well, I caught up for all my abstinence in one night. I was sick all day the next day; it was hysterical.
“I was like high school drunk. Like dumba** drunk.”
The former E.R. star admitted there have been times where he would “get pretty toasty” on a regular basis.
He said of his drinking: “I’ve had periods where, I wouldn’t say it was a problem — I never woke up and drank or anything.
“But I’d have runs where I’d get pretty toasty every night.”