Kristen Johnston Admits to Being "Total Drug Addict and Alcoholic for Years"

Actress talks about her past addictions and what she wouldn't do for love when it comes to dating

Most people know Kristen Johnston as Sally Solomon from TV's 3rd Rock from the Sun.

But in real life, she appears to have more in common with her hard-partying character Lexi Featherston in a 2004 episode of Sex and the City, who ended up being so wasted she fell out of a high-rise window.

In an interview with TV Guide magazine to promote her TV Land sitcom, The Exes, the two-time Emmy winner opened up about her struggles with substance abuse before she got clean and sober six years ago.

"I was a total drug addict and alcoholic for years," Johnston confessed to the magazine.

After addressing her addiction problems head-on last year in her memoir, Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster, the 45-year-old actress revealed she heard from her old 3rd Rock cast mates, many of whom have since lent her their support.

"Joey [Joseph Gordon-Levitt] is loving the book," Johnston said. "Wayne [Knight] loved it. Jane [Curtin] and I had lunch not long ago, and when I told John Lithgow I was sober, he burst into tears and said, 'I knew something was really troubling you, but you never showed it on the set."

The actress, who plays a divorce attorney searching for Mr. Right on The Exes, which costars Knight and Scrubs' Donald Faison, also recounted some highlights from the show's upcoming third season.

One favorite was a rather awkward moment when her character Holly ended up straddling a ledge of an open window while her boyfriend (Diedrich Bader) who was underneath her blew cigar smoke up up her skirt.

"The smoke went up my hoo-ha," she recalled, though adding, "Of course, I didn't feel much because I was actually wearing bicycle shorts underneath my miniskirt."

Another episode finds Holly being introduced to online dating—something Kristen has ruled out as far as her own love life.

"What would I say on my profile: 'Was an alien in the '90s? I just can't! It ain't so easy for us ladies," said the funny lady. "I mean, I'm 45—an old hag—and I haven't had one facelift."

The Exes airs Wednesdays on TV Land at 10:30 p.m.