“Everyone was either shocked … appalled that I didn’t drink, or they’d be like, ‘Wow that’s so strong of you,’” the “Malcolm in the Middle” star told Mayim Bialik on a recent episode of her podcast “Breakdown.” “It’s so weird that people have such a strong reaction to me not drinking, like who cares right?”
Turns out that many people care, as the actor’s admission of lifelong sobriety has grabbed the attention of dozens of news media outlets (including this publication), seizing on the short exchange with Bialik from a 1-hour, 20-minute podcast interview.
This isn’t the first time Muniz has shared he doesn’t drink. In 2012 and 2013, after a pair of mini-strokes landed him in the hospital, he dispelled any rumors that it was tied to substance use. “I’ve never even smoked a cigarette,” he said at the time. And now, a decade later, Muniz is aware that his lifelong sobriety butts against people’s perceptions of how former child actors are expected to behave.
Toward the end of the recent interview, Bialik, herself a former child actor, asked Muniz, who was 13 when his Fox sitcom first aired in 2000, if he had ever been in therapy or processed the effects of his childhood fame.
Although he acknowledged that he’s never been in therapy (something he hopes to change soon), Muniz said he dealt with the pressures of Hollywood by simply stepping away. In 2008, several years after “Malcolm in the Middle” ended, he moved to Scottsdale, Ariz. where he still lives with his wife, Paige, and their child, and runs an olive oil business.
“Moving to Scottsdale in 2008 I think saved my life,” he said, “And … I’m 38, I’ve still never had a sip of alcohol, I’ve never done drugs, I’ve never, done anything — so I don’t mean in that sense of like ‘Oh, I’m gonna go off the deep end like so many child actors do.”
Muniz says his lifestyle allowed him have a “great appreciation for his past” and focus on his other endeavors, such as music and race car driving.
When Bialik zoomed in on why Muniz never drank or did drugs, he said, “I don’t have a reason — it wasn’t like a religion,” he said. He added that his family often drinks for leisure, and his parents often smoke marijuana (though he did admit the copaganda reality show “Cops” led him to believe the only people who smoke pot are “criminals”).
Instead, Muniz said his sobriety may stem from his “hatred towards time.” He mentioned how as a child actor, “when I was 15, 16 years old I felt like I was so old … I had experienced a lot in my life in comparison to most 15 or 16-year-olds.” So by the time his peers at clubs started offering him drinks and drugs, he didn’t feel the need or desire to try it.
“I felt like I had made it so long without it that I was kind of like, I’m not going to start now, even though like I was only 17 or 18,” Muniz said.
Over the past decade, Muniz has continued acting, but has largely booked minor one-off roles in TV shows, smaller indie projects or occasional cameos, such as one in AMC thriller series “Preacher.” Instead, he’s focused on his other ventures, such as professional racing. After participating in a series of celebrity races throughout his career, Muniz started racing full-time in the ARCA Series, one of the lower rungs on the NASCAR feeder system. His goal is to reach the Cup Series.
Muniz said later in the podcast that he’s excited about the possibility of a “Malcolm in the Middle” reboot. Brian Cranston, who played Hal, the onscreen father of Muniz’ titular character, has been working with several writers on a script.
“I would love love it,” said Muniz, who watched the show all the way through for the first time in 2014, nearly a decade after it finished. “I have a greater appreciation of even what the show is and was and would love to dive in with all those people again.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.