Comedian Jeff Dye, who was arrested earlier this year for DUI, is speaking out about the incident and says he has spent 20 years as a “high-functioning alcoholic” and is working on his sobriety journey. “I’m an alcoholic,” Dye, who hosts the syndicated Fox game show Who the BLEEP Is That?, revealed on a podcast. “I have 36 days sober now.”
Speaking out on the Smoochietown with Marco DelVecchio podcast on Thursday, Dye admitted to drinking “every night since 2005.” The 40-year-old said that he would start his evenings at a bar before moving to a comedy club and possibly another bar after that. He also got into the specifics of his October DUI arrest in Burbank, California.
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“I woke up late because I slept through my alarm. I jumped in the cold shower, I put a hat on and just got in my Tesla,” he recalled, saying he was meeting an ex-girlfriend. “Teslas are very fast and so I just lost control of my car and crashed it. This is nine hours after I went to sleep. It wasn’t like I was leaving a bar, I wasn’t hammered.”
He said he was concerned about “some alcohol” being in his system – despite him saying he “didn’t feel drunk” at the time of the accident – so he ran from the car, which police said later he crashed into a tree. “Then, they arrested me at a coffee shop in front of my ex, in front of everyone at the coffee shop, too,” he said. “It was wildly humiliating.”
As previously reported, Dye was arrested for fleeing the scene of a traffic collision and driving under the influence on Sunday, October 8. Witnesses told the Burbank Police that the driver of a white Tesla, later confirmed to be Dye, “collided with a tree and the driver fled on foot.” No other vehicles were involved and no one was injured. About half an hour later, at 9:56 a.m., Dye was arrested and booked in the Burbank Jail. He was released without bail at 1:04 p.m.
The incident made headlines at the time because of Dye’s high-profile nature, but also because Dye’s ex, Kristin Cavallari, recounted the arrest on her weeks afterward. Although she did not use Dye’s name, fans put two and two together to figure out who she was talking about.
On Thursday, Dye slammed Cavallari for speaking publicly about the accident and DUI. “Kristin telling the story on her podcast for clicks, which f— her … it’s not her story to tell,” he said, calling Cavallari “a terrible person” for posting photos of his totaled car on her Instagram Story.
“It was very terrible, and it hurt my feelings a lot,” Dye added. “I don’t think people realize how horrific that made me feel. Like, I don’t know if anyone will ever know. I don’t know how to explain it. Imagine the worst thing that ever happened to you and strangers are looking at you like at a coffee shop.”
