{"id":2425674,"date":"2026-05-21T00:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2425674"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:08:11","slug":"andrew-mccarthy-details-how-cheers-helped-him-get-sober","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/andrew-mccarthy-details-how-cheers-helped-him-get-sober\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew McCarthy Details How Cheers Helped Him Get Sober"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Andrew McCarthy credited Ted Danson<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s classic sitcom Cheers<\/em><\/a> with helping him get sober.<\/p>\n

\u201cI owe you a great, great debt, which you don\u2019t know,\u201d McCarthy, 63, told Danson, 78, on the Wednesday, May 20, episode of the \u201cWhere Everybody Knows Your Name\u201d<\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n

McCarthy has previously opened up about seeking professional help for alcoholism at a Minnesota rehab center in 1992. (He once told London\u2019s The Times<\/em><\/a> that he would have landed in rehab \u201cwhether I was in the movies or not.\u201d )<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1992, I was in an alcohol rehab in Minnesota,\u201d he explained to Danson. \u201cI was all played out. I was just 29 years old and I was just done. I\u2019d made a mess of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Andrew McCarthy: What I Learned From Walking 500 Miles With Son Sam<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tPutting in the miles. When Andrew McCarthy set out to travel across Spain by foot, he was \u201cshocked\u201d that his son, Sam McCarthy, was interested in tagging along. The father-son duo spent 31 days walking the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain \u2014 a 500-mile journey. \u201cI did it a quarter century ago when I [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

McCarthy recalled that the rehab staffers were having trouble getting the patients to \u201cbond as a unit\u201d until they discovered that everyone wanted to watch Cheers<\/em> reruns. (The NBC sitcom \u2014 which was set in a Boston bar called \u201cCheers\u201d \u2014 originally aired from 1982 to 1993. Danson played barman Sam Malone in all 11 seasons.)<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter all the counselors all went home, we would gather around and watch Cheers,\u201d<\/em> McCarthy said. \u201cWe would sit there and talk about people\u2019s drinks, and how you [Danson] made the drinks \u2026 We totally bonded over the \u2018alcoholic\u2019 part of Cheers<\/em>. That changed my life and I haven\u2019t had a drink since.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell done, may I say,\u201d Danson congratulated McCarthy.<\/p>\n

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\n Ted Danson, John Ratzenberger, Rhea Perlman on \u201cCheers.\u201d<\/span> Courtesy NBC \/ courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

McCarthy previously explored the long-term impact of getting sober on the \u201cInside of You Host\u201d podcast<\/a> in 2023 when host Michael Rosenbaum<\/strong> asked if he still felt the urge to drink.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I certainly never think that,\u201d he answered. \u201cI think once you\u2019re a pickle, you can\u2019t ever become a cucumber again. I see my obsessive and compulsive qualities in other aspects of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pretty in Pink<\/em><\/a> star remembered having \u201ca moment\u201d where he realized he had to completely change his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sitting in a hotel. \u2026 I was at the Peninsula Hotel [in Beverly Hills] because I was in a grandiose phase of blowing money,\u201d he told Rosenbaum, 53. \u201cI would spend lots of money so people wouldn\u2019t think there was something going wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy continued, \u201cI remember being up all night, having emptied my minibar. I just heard a voice say, \u2018Andrew, you do whatever you want. I\u2019m tired.\u2019 It freaked me out. I literally was looking under the couch \u2014 \u2018Who just said that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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