Will Arnett Shares His Struggle With Sobriety

Flaked star opens up about his alcoholism and recovery

Will Arnett is hilarious on the outside, but many might not know about how dark he can feel on the inside.

In the latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter, the Arrested Development alum opens up about his struggles with sobriety and how his career has both helped and hindered his progress. Writing, producing and tarring in a semi-autobiographical series titled Flaked, Arnett realized how much the role was affecting him in real life.

"It became this tough, uncomfortable process," he tells the magazine. "And because I was putting a lot of stuff about my own life in there, I noticed it really starting to affect my mood and my behavior."

His struggles began when he was living in New York City, juggling voice over jobs and flying to Los Angeles for auditions. Although he was making "more money than 95 percent of the people" he knew he found the constant rejection taxing. "I'm so lucky I didn't own a pistol," he says. Arnett turned to a local watering hole for relief.

"I could've gone to law school a couple of times over with the time and money I spent in that place," he jokes, adding that his then-girlfriend Missy Yager wasn't happy with his choices. "She'd be like, 'Are you for f—ing real? You're there every day.' And it would get earlier and earlier. It'd be like 4 p.m., and the weekends would start on Wednesdays."

He continues, "And it didn't matter if I was hungover because I could roll out of bed and go do a voiceover. Or at least I'd [tell myself that] at 3 a.m."

Eventually Arnett was cast in a series and felt the world was his oyster, but when that same show was canceled, he fell into a deep depression. "I spent four or five months doing nothing and feeling sorry for myself," he tells the publication, adding that a female friend intervened. "I just crumbled. I went to an AA meeting that day."

Finally sober, Arnett moved to California for a fresh start, attending AA meetings daily and working full time. But a trip back to New York City changed his life. He met future wife Amy Poehler, who would soon be cast in Saturday Night Live and he would nab the hilarious role of Gob Bluth in Arrested Development. "After years and years of frustration, it was the validation I needed," he says.

His career basically launched from there on out, nabbing successful roles in 30 Rock, The Lego Movie, BoJack Horseman and more. But it was his Netflix show, Flaked, and his divorce from Poehler that caused him to stumble. "As I was writing all this s--t [on Flaked] and I start shooting it, I started getting confused about where I was at," he shares.

"Hardly anybody knows this," he continues, "but I started drinking again."

Arnett tells THR that he has since become sober again, attending meetings whenever he can as long as they don't interfere with his sons' T-ball practices.

"I just know where this path goes, and it's a dead end," he says. "I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm smart enough to know that this is not where I want to live. And I'm a dad now, a parent first and foremost."