Josh Peck opens up about using drugs and alcohol to deal with body image issues

10 March 2022, 11:44

Josh Peck promotes new book Happy People Are Annoying

By Jazmin Duribe

Josh has been sober since 2008.

Loading audio...

Josh Peck has opened up about turning to drugs and alcohol to deal with his body image issues.

If you were a '90s or '00s baby then you'll know that Josh practically raised us. The actor famously starred in The Amanda Show, before landing his own gig playing Josh Nichols in the much-loved Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh alongside Drake Bell.

Josh was hilarious and confident in front of the camera, but behind the scenes, Josh was seriously struggling with his body image. Josh, who weighed almost 300 pounds at 15, was bullied for his size.

Although he gradually lost 127 pounds over 18 months after deciding to adopt new diet and exercise habits, the scars still remained. Josh even recently asked fans to "move on" and stop sharing memes from his Drake & Josh days, before his weight loss.

Josh Peck says he used drugs to "numb" his feelings about his body. Picture: Alamy, United Archives GmbH

Now in a new interview with PEOPLE, Josh has opened up about how he became addicted to drugs and alcohol to cope while promoting his memoir, Happy People Are Annoying. "I was always looking for something outside to fix my insides," Josh told the publication.

"But eventually I realized that whether my life was beyond my wildest dreams or a total mess, it didn't change the temperature of what was going on in my mind. I knew that nothing in the outside world would make me feel whole."

He added: "It became clear that once I lost the weight that I was the same head in a new body. What is really clear is that I overdo things. And then I discovered drugs and alcohol. And that became my next chapter. I used food and drugs to numb my feelings."

Josh started experimenting with alcohol and drugs like cocaine in his teenage years. But because of his addiction, Josh earned himself a reputation in Hollywood for being "unstable and erratic". He has now been sober since 2008.

Josh explained: "It was really a buffet. I had this illusion of becoming more confident and attractive when I was partaking. I was trying to quiet that voice that woke me up every morning and told me I wasn't enough."

Josh Peck asks fans "move on" from old Drake & Josh memes in viral TikTok

He continued: "It took me a really long time to love the 15-year-old version of me. But now I understand how strong he was. And I feel like everything in my life set me up to find this chapter of health, peace and contentment."