Jason Bateman Says He Got Sober Due to 'Tension' in His Marriage to Wife Amanda Anka
Jason Bateman is opening up about his decision to quit alcohol and hard drugs.
In a new interview, the 57-year-old Emmy-winning actor credited his wife Amanda Anka for helping him get sober, largely because his on-and-off partying had gotten “annoyingly unpredictable.”
Keep reading to find out more…“Amanda and I definitely had a few negotiations about the point at which the [partying] spigot was going to completely turn off,” Jason told The Hollywood Reporter. “She’d be like, ‘This drip, drip, drip is annoyingly unpredictable, Jason.’”
Jason went on to say that at the time, Amanda, also 57, was the breadwinner, and shared that she “didn’t demand that I completely absolve, but that was sort of the back-and-forth, and I was like, well, I feel like my [sobriety] ETA is six months away, but if I could land this plane now, it would alleviate a lot of the tension, so let’s just f–king do it.”
The Ozark actor has since gone “California sober,” which is when someone abstains from all substances except for marijuana. He clarified that he hasn’t drank alcohol alcohol or done “the Scarface stuff” – aka cocaine – in decades.
Jason also recalled that once his bid to adult stardom fizzled, he embraced the party scene.
“Fortunately, I was living at a time without social media and camera phones, so I got away with a lot, but it was definitely close a few times,” he said. “I’ve got friends who had bottoms that were pretty chilling, but I was lucky enough to recognize, ‘This is probably as far as I should go if I still want to accomplish the things that I want to get to.’”
“I was conscious the whole time of wanting to get a lot of these boxes checked before I became a father and a guy with a career that I not only wanted but had a feeling I might be able to get it if I just got the right job,” added Jason, who shares daughters Francesca, 19, and Maple, 14, with Amanda.
Also in the interview, Jason addressed backlash over a question he asked Charli xcx during her recent appearance on his SmartLess podcast.