Actor Jason Ritter Credits Wife For Sobriety: ‘Doing This For Her’

Published: October 2, 2023

Actor Jason Ritter Credits Wife For Sobriety: ‘Doing This For Her’

By Movieguide® Contributor

Actor Jason Ritter credits his wife, Melanie Lynskey, for helping him through his sobriety journey.

In an interview on THE DREW BARRYMORE SHOW, he reflected on his journey and their relationship.

“It’s not as cute of a story as you would like to think. It’s messy and interesting and weird. But mixed in the mix [I] was dealing with some alcoholism issues,” Ritter shared on THE DREW BARRYMORE SHOW in March.

“At a point I knew how amazing she was, and I thought she would be incredible for someone who deserved her basically, and I didn’t feel like I was that person. I felt a little bit too crazy,” he added.

Because of his battle with alcohol, Ritter waited “waited almost a year into his sobriety journey before getting serious with Lynskey, who he wed in 2020,” MSN reported.

“So it was only after like, maybe a year into not drinking where I started to go, oh, maybe I can promise some things to someone else. Maybe I can be this person,” he explained.

“He worked so hard. He did so much work on himself. I’m so proud of him,” Lynskey added.

“It was easier for me to say that I’m [getting sober] for her because, at that time, I didn’t feel like I was sort of worth much,” he said of their early relationship. “I didn’t care as much about hurting myself as I did about hurting her. So, initially it was easier for me to say, ‘I’m doing this for her.’ And now, I’m doing it for myself.”

Since their marriage and his sobriety, Ritter says his wife is always careful to ensure that her decisions don’t cause him to relapse.

“She’s amazing,” he added. “If she’s going to have a glass of wine or something like that, she’ll be like, ‘Is this OK?’ And it’s always OK. Some people are not OK about being around it, but she’s so thoughtful and really lovely about it.”

Ritter shared with Fatherly that good communication is key to their marriage.

“I do feel like sometimes people fight to exercise some feelings that they’re having, as opposed to solve a problem…f you can find someone who’s trying to also solve the problem—and not trying to punish or hurt—I think that’s key,’ Fatherly reported. “Boiled down, Ritter’s advice speaks to the importance of healthy, problem-solving-based communication, a cornerstone of a healthy partnership.”

Movieguide® previously reported on Drew Barrymore’s sobriety journey:

Actress Drew Barrymore opened up about her journey to sobriety in a recent edition of her magazine Drew.

Separation from alcohol “has been one of the most liberating things in my journey of life,” Barrymore shared.

“It was something I realized just did not serve me and my life,” she said of the decision.

“One of the bravest things you can do is slay those dragons and finally change an awful cycle in which you’ve found yourself stuck. For me, it was to stop drinking,” she wrote.

While much of her life is public, Barrymore wanted to keep this journey private.

“I just want to figure this out and go about this with no profession, no public anything. Let me do this quietly and privately,” she reflected. “And now it’s been long enough where I’m in a lifestyle that I know is really working on a high road for my little journey, and there’s so much peace finally being had where there were demons.”