John Mulaney Reportedly Enters Rehab for Substance Abuse

John Mulaney has reportedly checked himself into an addiction rehabilitation facility for 60 days. Sources close to the comedian told Page Six that Mulaney sought help for alcoholism and cocaine addiction. Mulaney has joked about his sobriety and his past abuse of drugs extensively in his stand-up comedy.

Mulaney is reportedly in a rehab facility in Pennsylvania for a 60-day stint starting this weekend. The 38-year-old first became sober at the age of 23. The insider said that Mulaney’s addiction has troubled him during the pandemic but did not reveal any specifics about whether there was a relapse. They said: “John’s friends and family are happy that he’s finally getting some help and focusing on his health. His fans know he’s struggled in the past with sobriety; he has talked about it openly. Unfortunately, he has struggled again during the pandemic.”

“He’s on board with his recovery, he’s not fighting against rehab,” the insider added.

Mulaney has often joked about his history with drugs and alcohol in his standup comedy and in other content, disarming the audience by establishing these struggles firmly in the past. He also often plays on his own straight-laced, innocent demeanor. In his 2012 Netflix special New in Town, he joked: “I don’t drink. I used to drink, then I drank too much, and I had to stop. That surprises a lot of audiences because I don’t look like someone who used to do anything.”

Mulaney offered more details on his addiction last year in a cover story interview for Esquire. At the time, he revealed that alcohol and cocaine were his main vices, with some prescription drug use thrown in as well. He said that he first began drinking at the age of 13, and he did so “for attention.”

“I was really outgoing, and then at 12, I wasn’t,” he said. “I didn’t know how to act. And then I was drinking, and I was hilarious again.” Mulaney also speculated that substance abuse appealed to his sense of daring, saying: “I wasn’t a good athlete, so maybe it was some young male thing of ‘this is the physical feat I can do. Three Vicodin and a tequila and I’m still standing. Who’s the athlete now?’”

In that interview, Mulaney also revealed that he had dabbled in treatment for addiction from an early age, as well. He said that when he was a teenager, his parents sent him to a psychiatrist, who told him he was one part nice kid, one part “gorilla that wants to kill the other half.”

Perhaps the crux of that interview was Mulaney describing the alcohol and drug binge that spurred him to get sober for the first time. He said that in 2005, he “went on a bender that weekend that was just, like, fading in and out of a movie.”

“It was just crazy,” he recalled. “I was like ‘you’re f—ing out of control.’ And I thought to myself, ‘I don’t like this guy anymore I’m not rooting for him.’”

So far, Mulaney’s representatives have declined to comment on his rumored rehab stay. Much of the comedian’s work is available to stream on Netflix.