Why MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Star Has ‘Never Had A Sip Of Alcohol’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Former child star Frankie Muniz recently opened up about why he has remained sober his entire life.
“I’ve still never had a sip of alcohol,” the 38-year-old said during an appearance on Mayim Bialik’s “Breakdown” podcast.
Muniz also revealed he has never done drugs.
When asked if his decision had something to do with how he was raised, Muniz said no, adding, “Every family member in my family drinks. And that’s what they do for fun.”
“I tried to figure out why I didn’t, because I don’t have a reason,” he continued.
The MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE star pointed to his life as a child actor, saying, “When I was 15, 16 years old, I felt like I was so old. I had experienced so much. And I had experienced a lot in my life in comparison to most 15 or 16-year-olds. But even though I was in the entertainment business, I never saw it, meaning the drug use, any of that stuff. I somehow stayed away. I just went to the set and did my thing.”
The actor said it wasn’t until he was 18 that he was even around alcohol and figured, “Well, I’m not going to start now.”
“I couldn’t believe everyone’s reactions when I said I don’t drink,” he said. “‘Oh, we’re at a club, we have a bottle. You want a drink?’ ‘No, I don’t drink. I’m good with water.’ Everyone was either shocked or appalled that I didn’t drink. Or they’d be like, ‘Wow, that’s so strong of you.’”
Muniz continued, “I was always kind of like, ‘It’s so weird that people have such a strong reaction to me not drinking.’ Like, who cares? I don’t care what you do. Why do you care so much about me?’ I don’t know if I made a conscious decision, but it just stuck with me that I was never gonna drink or do anything.”
The actor has previously spoken about becoming famous so young, theorizing that it might have something to do with his memory problems.
“I don’t know how much of that is because I’ve had nine concussions in my life,” he laughed. “But I think it’s mostly because since I was eight years old, I’ve never stopped moving – going places, doing so much…And as an actor, I would become someone else, say their words, and then forget them the next day. So that’s almost how I operate in my daily life. I’m used to being busy, so maybe I don’t absorb everything.”
Muniz no longer acts; instead, he has started a career as a race car driver.
“I’m truly the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” he shared. “I like the fact that I basically control my destiny with how much effort I put into working out, testing and training, and becoming a racecar driver.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Muniz:
MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE star Frankie Muniz recently shared why he left Hollywood after finding fame as a child actor playing Malcolm on the Emmy-winning show, which ran from 2000 until 2006.
“When I was on MALCOLM, I was just so excited to be working on a show. But also in that same sense, when the show ended, I kind of left the business for a little bit,” Muniz told Fox News Digital.
As he’s gotten older, Muniz is grateful for the time he took off and realizes why “so many people go down a bad path” that typically include drugs and alcohol.
“I think for a lot of people, it’s probably difficult to go from having such success at a young age where you always have people going like, ‘Oh, I love you,’ and everyone wanting you here and there. And then that starts to fade,” he explained.
“A lot of people try to replace the missing feeling of [being] wanted with something else. And that really is a negative for a lot of people,” Muniz continued. “Whereas for me, I’ve always been super focused on what I was currently doing because I wanted to be the best at whatever I was doing. And that’s how I am.”
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