George Clooney isn’t holding back when it comes to sharing his past experiences with drugs.
The 64-year-old actor revealed that he tried “blow and stuff” in 1982, according to his Esquire cover story published on Monday, October 6.
“I used to make jokes about how I did too many drugs, but the truth is, it was never a big issue for me at all,” Clooney admitted. “And look, there was an episode of Taxi where they’re all doing blow.”
He added, “At the time, it was like, ‘No, this is not like heroin. It’s not addictive.’ But then it was like, ‘Oh, well, it’s actually pretty f***ng bad.’” Plus, it was all cut with mannitol. The baby laxative. Everybody would do a line and then take a s***.”
As for marijuana, however, Clooney only tried it once.
Clooney recalled making pot brownies with his friends “about 15 years ago,” the profile claimed, noting that they watched The Wizard of Oz and listened to Dark Side of the Moon.
“We were f***ed. I literal — I think all of us — there was like 20 of us in the screening room, and the movie ended, and we sat there without speaking for, like, hours. Hours!” he recalled. “Like the sun was coming up and we’re — it’s just not my drug.”
The actor prefers alcohol, which might be apparent to those who know he and Rande Gerber teamed up to create Casamigos tequila in 2013.
“I’ve had periods where, I wouldn’t say it was a problem — I never woke up and drank or anything,” Clooney explained. “But I’d have runs where I’d get pretty toasty every night.”
He even had a pretty booze-filled evening at the 2025 Tony Awards this past June. The awards show took place just after Clooney’s last performance as the late Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck. For the six months he was in character, Clooney laid off alcohol.
“I got blasted,” he said of the Tony Awards afterparty. “Barely-walking drunk, you know? Came home with Amal, and I was just laughing. We’re lying in bed, and I go, ‘Well, I caught up for all my abstinence in one night.’ I was sick all day the next day; it was hysterical. I was like high school drunk. Like, dumbass drunk.”
Clooney attended the ceremony alongside wife Amal Clooney. He was nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for the role but ultimately lost to Cole Escola who won for their portrayal as Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!
Clooney admitted he was “really nervous” to take on the role, something he hadn’t experienced in “a long time.” (The Broadway version of Good Night, and Good Luck was based on Clooney’s 2005 film of the same name.)
“Part of it was strictly age related. As you get older — I’m 64 — and as you get older, it doesn’t matter how many granola bars you eat; your brain starts to lock up,” he admitted. “I had all these long monologues, and I was afraid of blowing my lines. So every single night for one hundred performances, I would do the whole play in the dressing room before I went onstage. I was so terrified.”
Clooney’s performance was filmed for CNN and broadcast live on June 7, the first time a Broadway play was televised. It’s now available to stream via Prime Video.
