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Roseanne’s John Goodman Admits He Used to Drink at Work During Battle With Alcoholism

John Goodman hasn’t had a drink in 10 years, but the road to sobriety wasn’t always easy. The Roseanne star, 65, admits in a teaser for his upcoming appearance on Sunday Today With Willie Geist that he used to sneak alcohol on set.

Related: ‘Roseanne’ Cast: Then and Now

“I got so lucky because I was still getting hired for things, but the fact is I was drinking at work,” Goodman recalls. “My speech would be slurred. I thought I was fooling people. My cheeks would turn bright red when I was liquored up. I just looked like a stop sign.”

The tipping point came one weekend when the actor pretended to be away “playing golf with my friends.”

John Goodman alcoholism battle Sunday TODAY
John Goodman talks about his battle with alcoholism on ‘Sunday Today With Willie Geist.’

“I had to go accept an Emmy award. So I missed the rehearsal because I was drunk. And then by the time Sunday morning rolled around, I was shaking. I was still drinking, but I was still shaking,” he recounts. “I had the clarity of thought that I needed to be hospitalized.”

Related: Celebrity Drug Confessions

Goodman immediately called his wife, Anna Beth Goodman, which he now jokes was “like turning myself into the Gestapo.”

“She made some phone calls,” he says. “She got me into a treatment center, and I detoxed there and decided I liked the feeling. And it’s been 10 years.”

The Golden Globe winner previously said on The Howard Stern Show that his costar Roseanne Barr also confronted him about his drinking problem. “She was scared for me, but she was more confrontational,” he recalled on the SiriusXM show on Tuesday, March 27.

Related: ‘Roseanne’ Reboot: All the Political Comments in the Premiere

Since then, Goodman has had one achievement after another. He lost 100 pounds a few years ago, and more recently found success while reprising his beloved role as Dan Conner on the ABC reboot of Roseanne, which boasted 18.2 million viewers during its premiere on Tuesday, making it the highest-rated sitcom on any network in four years.

Goodman’s full interview airs on Sunday Today With Willie Geist on NBC Sunday, April 1.

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