Andrew McCarthy discusses his alcoholism
NEW YORK -- Andrew McCarthy can admit now that he wasn't exactly in the pink while shooting the movie "Pretty in Pink."
The actor says he had a serious drinking problem at the height of his Brat Pack fame in the '80s, but he still managed to function -- and fool everyone.
"Like in 'Pretty in Pink' for example, people said, 'Oh, he's so sensitive and lovely in that movie,'" McCarthy says in an interview on ABC's "20/20," airing at 10 p.m. EST Monday.
"I was so hung over for that whole movie ... I'm thinking, 'God, I got a headache. I am just dying here. I got to go lay down.' But on film it came across a certain way."
The 41-year-old actor says he started drinking when he was about 12, before co-starring in films including "St. Elmo's Fire" and "Less Than Zero."
"It took a while for alcohol to really sort of kick my (butt), which it ended up doing completely ... maybe '88 to '92," he says. "The first Bush presidency, I like to say, I missed."
McCarthy went through a detox program and has been sober since 1992. He now appears in the ABC miniseries "Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital."
