Now, you tell me if this is something you don’t want to get into — and this could entirely be based on my misreading between the lines — but going back and reading old articles about you over the years, there were a conspicuous amount of references to drinking. Sometimes those references were playful and sometimes they weren’t. So the question occurred to me: Has alcohol ever been a problem?
I’ve had a lot more drinking in my life than I would’ve if my job hadn’t put me in an environment where everybody was celebrating drinking. All the years we played clubs and frats — every single night we would be drinking and doing whatever else was happening. I still drink, and I keep my center better. I do worry about destroying my mind sometimes.
How’s that?
By anyone else’s standards but my own I am a raging alcoholic.
The way you said that — I can’t tell how serious you’re being.
I mean, I’m talking about the amount I drink. But if I don’t have a drink for a month, I don’t — it’s harder for me to give up bread than it is to give up alcohol. But I like a drink. I grew up in an extended family that likes to drink. My mom, she enjoys a glass of wine or some whisky, but she’s quite moderate relative to my uncles — South Africans are pretty big drinkers. I’ve seen a lot of people around me go sober. The fish always gets bigger when they tell their drinking stories again, but I understand that as well.
Sometimes people need exaggeration in order to make sense of their lives.
That’s right — however you can move forward. A lot of people deal with [drinking] beautifully and a lot of people struggle with it. But I worry. I don’t drink like I used to, I don’t think. But I like wine. I like the culture of it. I’ve pulled back, but I like it at the same time. I like it.
https://www.vulture.com/2018/05/dave...versation.html