Ugh, this makes me sad. Radar reports/claims that Jason Segel (they misspell his name as “Segal” throughout the story) has been battling an addiction to alcohol after his split from Michelle Williams several months ago, and that Jason has now doing the Alcoholics Anonymous program and going to meetings. LaineyGossip had a blind item which seemed to be about this situation too (although some of you claimed it was about some other couple). I feel weird about discussing what went down during an anonymous meeting, though – but I guess Radar has a source within the meeting? That’s really gross and defeats the whole purpose of AA. If Jason wanted to sue Radar, he would probably win.
How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segal has checked himself into alcoholics anonymous in a desperate bid to win his battle with booze in the wake of his heartbreaking split from Michelle Williams, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned. The 33-year-old actor’s drinking was so out of control that he decided to attend a 12-step meeting on March 2 in Hollywood, Calif. in a desperate bid to save himself, according to a source.
“I have been sober for 12 days,” Segal, who starred alongside reformed alcoholic Russell Brand in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, told fellow attendees at the mutual support meeting.
“He told everyone it’s time that he stops drinking, for good.”
Segal stayed for more than an hour listening to other people’s stories about their battles against alcohol addiction, the source added. A drinker for years, Segal is now determined to reclaim his life after Williams ended their year-long romance in mid-February. Williams, the ex of late Oscar winning actor Heath Ledger, wasn’t able to make a long-term commitment to Segal, leaving him devastated, according to sources.
“She cares a great deal for Jason but is not ready to make a commitment,” an insider said. “Maybe if they were together day-to-day, she would have more confidence in a future. But not at this time.”
Williams, 32, and Segal, began dating in 2012 and were photographed as recently as January in Cancun. Another insider cited long distance as the primary reason for the split. Williams lives in Brooklyn with her daughter Matilda, 7, and Segal is based in Los Angeles, where his hit CBS sitcom is taped.
“Jason never got rid of his place in L.A., and Michelle’s life with (daughter) Matilda was and has always been in New York,” another source said. “While Jason made every effort to make them a priority in his life — and they were top priority — he still couldn’t drop everything and leave his life and career in L.A.”
In the past, Segal hadn’t shied away from from his wild partying and heavy boozing. In 2011, a bumbling drunk Segal answered paparazzo’s questions outside a Los Angeles nightspot. He also starred in a viral video that hit YouTube, clutching a drink and serenading a fan with a karaoke version of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” in Ann Arbor, Mich. in 2011. The actor was shooting The Five-Year Engagement at the time.
If it’s true and Jason is in the program and he genuinely wants to get help, good for him. Good for him for seeking help before he committed some crime or before he destroyed his career. I hope he realizes his sobriety is about him, not about Michelle and not about “proving” himself to her. I don’t think that’s the way recovery works. You have to get sober because you want to get sober, because you want to change your life. Good luck, Jason!
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Whoever leaked this story is an a**hole.
Word. What an awful human being. What possesses someone to violate another’s trust this way?
Lb, it happens all the time in AA and 12 step groups like it (at least where it does in my city). There are good members who follow the basic tenets, but there also many gossips/people who don’t. Just like real life. There’s an a-hole in every group. Sad.
Absolutely. This could make him less willing to go now. Selling out someone trying to get help for a few bucks… smh!
Word.
THIS. It’s Alcoholics ANONYMOUS. Not a public event.
double post sorry
Ugh. Whoever was in the meeting and chose to share this violated one of the most basic, sacred tenents of AA (and like programs). Shame on them. Shame on me for not reading Kaiser’s first paragraph more carefully about the source.
I love Jason and I hope he can get it together. I’m betting that he knows his recovery is about him and I think it shows that he’s self aware that he can get out of control. I can only imagine the bender he went on after they broke up because I bet he wasn’t drinking very much when they were together.
Wow if someone really spilled details to Radar about the meeting, how disgusting! I just hope Jason gets the help he needs. I’m pulling for him.
I agree…whoever leaked this should be ashamed. Good for Jason for getting help!
we are HUGE JS fans! good for him that he is taking responsibity for himself. best health & wishes, dude…you can do it!!! 😉
I loved him until he let Lindsey Lohan spend the night a few years ago, but I feel awful for him that someone went to the press with this. He seems like a really nice guy, and I wish him well.
How accurate is Radar? I rarely visit their site, but they’re owned by Star Magazine, right? Also, I take Lainey with a grain of salt. She’s good at letting people in on the games people play in Hollywood, but she stans for the weirdest people (and bad mouths people she doesn’t like). Jason might want Michelle back, but Lainey also hated Jason until he started dating Michelle. Then she started featuring him in more (positive) articles. Lainey’s like the nerd trying to get in with the cool kids.
Lainey’s too biased, it’s true. Even when she has solid info, her personal bias shines through. She’s been very pro Michelle since she got wind of Heath’s issues at TIFF a few months before the split. Lainey’s always had good TIFF contacts.
I thought from the beginning that the blind was about Segel and Williams, so this leaked info about him being an addict just confirms it 🙂 And I even forgive him the Lohan situation, I blame it on the alcohol 😉 Okay, no kidding, it’s a serious issue.
I so hope that he gets back together with Michelle, but I totally understand that she broke up with him.
I hope he stays sober. Alcohol destroys more lives than all other drugs combined. it’s the true gateway drug and it happens to be legal.
It is also possible, considering the storyline, that Segel leaked this himself. It paints him in a decent light and may be part of a strategy to prove to his ex that he is getting it together.
+1. Very possible. I feel for him, but I don’t think Michelle will take the bait. She’s been down this road before.
F*cking AA. OF COURSE his anonymity was broken. For every member who actually respects someone’s anonymity, there’s a sleaze ball waiting to break it. Poor Jason. I hope finds a meeting where the members can be trusted. He should try one with nothing but old timers. They know how it’s done.
Completely agree.
As for Michelle, can’t say I blame her about detaching herself from him. After Heath and his addiction issues, which ultimately killed him, I wouldn’t sign up for Round 2 of that, either.
+1
He is only 33!!!!? Best of luck for him. My brother in law is an alcoholic and it is such a difficult illness to overcome. Not sire if JS is an alcoholic but he does sound like he needs help.
Whoever leaked this is a douchnozzle of the highest order.
+1 It might be time for signed (they could assign a code #) confidentially agreements or an oath of some sort. This is such a violation.
I’m disgusted that someone sold the story, and that Radar reported it.
If someone is willing to go and share and try to deal with their problems in a productive way, they should have the right to do so privately.
I adore Jason (he meets my “This Tall to Ride” and is one of my “types”), so I truly hope he’s successful in kicking the booze.
I also truly hope that someone just followed him to the meeting and waited outside, timing how long he was in the meeting, and that the quotes are from a separate “source,” because that is SUCH a violation of privacy otherwise.
One time my sister saw a major actor/singer from our country at an AA meeting. She told me and we were both :OOOO “He’s an alcoholic?!” But we never, ever told anyone else. We felt sorry for him. It’s someone you grew up watching, so it breaks your heart.
It takes a special kind of asshole to tell someone like a tabloid about things like these. I would not be surprised if tabloids are starting to plant moles at these places to get scoop and see if someone famous drops by.
I just don’t see a real AA doing this. It’s incredibly hard to get someone to go to AA. Those who are there take it very seriously. They know what Jason is going through. They would not tell other people. They are all keeping the secret from others as well.
You said you can’t see a “real AA” doing this, but your sister told you and you’re repeating it on the Internet. It’s not a stretch to think a “real” AA-er would do basically the same thing and just add the name. Gossip happens.
Did I tell you who it was? Did I name the person? Did I post what he said? I’m still keeping the anonimity so save the judgement. Not even my sister told me what he said and she only told me about him because we liked him when we were little, and seeing someone she liked at AA encouraged her to go again and not be ashamed of it. It was her first meeting and it took everything from us to make her go. It was a sign for her. Also, I’m using this as an example that people see celebrities all the time at AA meetings and people and tabloids never find out. It’s not like I’m posting scoop here or told a tabloid, so chill the fuck out.
The reason my sister told me was because she didn’t want to go to AA because she was afraid someone would find out. Seeing a celebrity we liked when we were little helped her not be ashamed. If he goes, so can I. Period.
I don’t see why you’re judging if I didn’t name the guy. Way to not get the point of the story and try for stirring shit instead. Too early for such negativity and judgement. You must be a joy to live with.
I was dating someone in AA in my early 20’s.I asked him if he saw celebrities at his meetings here in NYC. He said there were people that most would recognize from the papers but declined to name any names. He said that would defeat the purpose and violate the agreement that existed amongst attendees. I accepted the answer and thought better of ever asking a question like that again.
Didn’t judge or accuse you of anything. Merely restated your own admission. And I pointed out that it’s not a stretch to think someone would carry it to the next level. Your sister did break someone’s anonymity – fact, not judgment. While you did not repeat the name, there are people who will and do. You used an example of broken anonymity to express disbelief that broken anonymity happens.
Privacy? What a quaint concept. Anyway, I quit cuz I never want to go to those awful meetings again. Thank goodness they didn’t make me get a “sponsor”.. Ugh talk about lack of privacy!
He’s aged sooo much in the last few years bhe sure doesn’t look his age anymore.
I hope he gets sober and stays on track.
Aw hang in there big guy, your fans love you! Who know maybe Rusty is his sponsor.
Common knowledge in L.A. Grandson a bartender there, and Jason hits up bars in not so good neighborhoods.
definitely saw this one coming. i live in ann arbor and saw him out when he was filming the 5 year engagement; he was always hitting on some PYT and had a major rep around town for being a massive drinker and partier. SHAME on whomever leaked this. he deserves to be able to recover without public intrusion.
I really like Jason, I hope he finds the serenity he’s looking for.
So Lainey was right.
Sad for Williams to have been with another addict although Segel has it arguably more together and loves life more I think. Plus, he really went for the relationship by all accounts but he didn’t have his shit together.
AA is full of “members” who are ordered there by the court system and not because they are looking to get sober. They don’t have the same dedication to the anonymity idea that people do who are choosing to be there on their own accord. AA has become a dumping ground for lazy judges who sentence people to AA because it’s free.
I think you’re onto something here.
I just posted almost the exact same thing after I saw your comment. Couldn’t agree more.
As someone who’s been sober for 92 days, and for whom AA is a God-send, I find this story both hopeful for JS and sad that some asshole couldn’t help but to open their mouths and blab this story. I hope JS jumps in with both feet and frees himself from the grip of alcohol.
But with so many AA “members” who are ordered into the program by some well-meaning judge and have absolutely no desire to be there, then true anonymity is almost impossible because those people couldn’t give two shits: about themselves, the program or anyone in the program. I’ve even had some should-know-better old timers want to tell me about celebs who’ve come through our meetings. And I wish they’d keep it to themselves.
Celebrity does weird things to people. It’s certainly, for lack of a better word, intoxicating.
Happy 92 days. Keep trudging.
I love Jason Segel! I’m glad he’s getting help and with that being said, SHAME ON YOU WHOEVER LEAKED THIS!
Good for you, Jason!
Personally I did not like him with Michelle. She seems too stuffy.
Irritating that the a-hole “source” still blames Michelle for not wanting to commit, like him going to AA was all her fault. She’s got every right to separate herself and her child from someone who is a known, KNOWN, heavy drinker, if not an outright alcoholic. SHE IS committed to her kid, is she not? SHE IS committed to living a healthy productive life and she doesn’t owe Jason anything. Like her or not, she had a child with Heath Leger and is still bringing up the kid which is a commitment, and lost the father of her child, so why would she want to hang around another overgrown man-child? What’s attractive about that?
God, she’s not my favourite actress, but these subtle digs at her by these stupid stories are really annoying.
I completely agree.
That is really fucked up that someone in the meeting leaked this info. It makes me sad. AA is anonymous for a reason.
I’m just as disgusted that the tabloids (Radar in this case, but almost any of them would do it) paid someone for info like this as that an AA member would leak the info. Why does journalistic integrity, and basic decency, not exist anymore?! So disheartening. Anything celeb-related is treated as some kind of free-for-all media circus, disregarding the fact that celebs are still REAL PEOPLE who deserve privacy outside of their work.
The article mentions Jason co-starring with Russell Brand, and that’s an example of another person who is constantly followed/photographed by paps when attending his AA/NA meetings. Sure, Russell has been up front about his struggles with addiction, and it’s no shocker that he attends meetings, but still, he should be allowed to attend them in peace and also without compromising the anonymity of the other attendees by having paps follow him around. That shouldn’t be too much to ask of the media.
I love Jason and think he is such a talent.
Good for him and I wish him only the best!