Michael Barrymore revealed last night that he has not had a drink for three years – but sobriety has not stopped him laughing.
Matt Barbet with 61 year-old TV veteran Michael Barrymore[CHANNEL 5]The former Strike It Lucky TV host said: “I’ve got the least materially I’ve ever had but I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
Barrymore, 61, told Matt Barbet from Channel 5 News: “People think that when you give up the drink you’re never going to laugh anymore. It’s rubbish, you do.”
The entertainer denied he was ever drunk when appearing on television but said being a workaholic pushed him towards alcohol. He said: “A lot of comedians will drink and then they’ll work. I could never do that. The minute I came off stage, someone would have the wine there.”
People think that when you give up the drink you’re never going to laugh anymore. It’s rubbish, you do.
Barrymore was launching Britain Over The Limit, a week-long series of features on Channel 5 News about alcohol. He said it took a long time to take responsibility for his drinking: “With addiction, when you are in the throes of it, everyone else is to blame.
“It’s because I’m gay. It’s because I’m successful. It’s because the press follow me round everywhere. It’s because people are on my back. You never look at yourself. When you accept it’s you that’s the problem, you can start dealing with it.”
He told how he masked his addiction, saying: “I used to start a row so that I would have an excuse to go out for a drink.”
Barrymore fell from grace in 2001 after factory worker Stuart Lubbock, 31, was found dead in the swimming pool at the star’s home in Roydon, Essex, after a party.
The inquest did not implicate Barrymore in the death but exposed his wild lifestyle and marked his descent into alcohol addiction.
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