- Josh Brolin says he enjoys growing older because it helps him “mellow out.”
- The actor spoke to The Times about his tumultuous childhood and past alcohol addiction.
- According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol misuse cost the US $249 billion in 2010.
After years of struggling with addiction, Josh Brolin says he doesn’t think that aging is a bad thing.
In an interview with The Times published on Saturday, Brolin spoke about how his perspective on life has changed as he’s gotten older.
“I like getting older. It’s like a great excuse to finally go, ‘OK, just mellow out, you don’t need to constantly spin,'” Brolin told The Times.
The “Marvel” actor said that he had a tumultuous childhood and started dabbling with substance abuse at a young age, trying marijuana when he was 9 and taking LSD when he was 13.
Brolin struggled with alcohol addiction as he got older.
He finally got sober in 2013 after seeing his 99-year-old grandmother on her deathbed, the actor said. He paid his dying grandmother a visit after waking up hungover on the streets, and it made him realize that he had many more years to live.
“I knew that was going to be the last time I drank,” Brolin said. It’s been over a decade since the actor gave up drinking, and he says that he thinks life is better now.
“I love being sober. I have more fun,” he said. “There’s nothing that I go through that I am absolutely certain wouldn’t be worse if I was drinking.”
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol misuse cost the US $249 billion in 2010. Three-quarters of the total cost is related to binge drinking.
Based on data from the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 28.9 million people aged 12 and older had Alcohol Use Disorder — colloquially referred to as alcoholism — in the past year.
In 2020, researchers from the University of Southern California found that every gram of alcohol consumed a day aged the brain by about seven days.
Excessive drinking can also contribute to weight gain, cause damage to the liver, and even weaken the immune system.
According to the CDC, drinking in moderation consists of two drinks a day or less for men, and one drink a day or less for women.
Gen Z seems to be taking note. The younger generation says they are drinking less than their predecessors: A 2021 Gallup survey of 1,000 people found that only 6o% of those aged 18 to 34 said they drank alcohol, compared to 70% of people aged 35 to 54.
A representative for Brolin did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.
