Jason Ritter, Melanie Lynskey detail his struggle with alcoholism

Looking back. Jason Ritter opened up about his struggle with alcoholism and how it affected his relationship with Melanie Lynskey in the early stages of their romance.

“I knew how amazing Melanie was early on, Parenthood alum, 43, said during an interview on Wednesday, March 29 he The Drew Barrymore Show, recalling how he knew his 45-year-old wife was Ona. “But it’s not as sweet a story as you’d like to think. It was messy and interesting and weird. But involved [with] the mix was that I was dealing with some issues with alcoholism.”

California immediately liked him Yellowjackets actress when they met in 2013, but his struggles with alcohol worried him he wasn’t right for her. “At one point I knew how amazing she was and I thought she would be amazing for someone who basically deserves her,” Ritter told the host. Drew Barrymore. “And I didn’t feel like I was that person. I felt a little too crazy.”

The girls alum said it took him a while to feel confident again after giving up alcohol in late 2013. “It wasn’t until maybe a year into my drinking that I started going, ‘Oh, maybe I can promise some things to someone else . Maybe I can be that person,’ explained the NYU graduate, blinking back tears. “I knew she was amazing. It was working on itself enough to make me feel like I could be the One for her too.”

Lynskey, who held her husband’s hand throughout the argument, was also visibly emotional as she praised him. “He worked so hard,” Candy said the star. “He’s worked so hard on himself, I’m so proud of him.”

The Heavenly Creatures the actress said at the time that the interview would “be more fun”, but Barrymore, 48, assured the couple that she was happy to discuss the subject because of her own problems with alcohol.

“I haven’t had a drink in almost four years,” he said Never Been Kissed the star said, noting that she is not sober, but no longer consumes alcohol. “The narrative that’s being created is that, ‘I can’t be with someone.’ And I haven’t been in a relationship since I quit drinking, and I’m really looking forward to one day not having that bad girl story, the instability, ‘I’m not someone who has the right to be with anyone because of them’ [feeling].”

Lynskey and Ritter, who welcomed a daughter in December 2018, tied the knot in 2020 after getting engaged three years prior. Although the couple had plenty of time to plan the wedding after Ritter’s 2017 proposal, the big day happened spontaneously. The Sweet Home Alabama the actress was about to fly to Canada to shoot the first season Yellowjackets when someone (mistakenly) told her that Ritter couldn’t enter the country unless they were married.

“So I thought, ‘We’ve got to get married tomorrow,'” the New Zealander said during a May 2022 interview. Jess Cagle‘s SiriusXM show. “We got married on the front porch of our little rental house in Atlanta. A nice lady came and married us. We had two friends there. … They brought cake and flowers and everything we needed.”