Sober For 14 Years, Josh Peck Feels, 'Everything In My Life Set Me Up To Find This Chapter'

Josh Peck entered rehab in 2008 and still utilizes the 12 steps program in his daily life 14 years later. After losing 127 pounds, the "Drake & Josh" actor developed a drug and alcohol addiction and eventually entered rehab for help. He says that his sobriety has been "wonderful" and a "foundation that has kept me really anchored."

Peck recently told Page Six, "I'm lucky to have found recovery through a 12 steps program almost 14 years ago and it's something that I still do regularly to this day. It gives me a lot of structure in my life. It's really the bedrock of my life and from it, all these wonderful things have been built. Peck, 35, wrote about his addiction in his memoir, "Happy People Are Annoying," where he explained that sobriety has given him "a foundation that has kept me really anchored."

His addiction to drugs and alcohol began after he shed 127 pounds and became a new man on the outside. Earlier this year, Peck told People, "I was always looking for something outside to fix my insides. 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."

The New York City born and raised actor began in the industry doing stand-up comedy before he landed his first big role on Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show" which later led to "Drake & Josh" alongside Drake Bell. Peck's weight issues caused him to be teased and he needed an outlet which ended up being comedy. "I spent most of my life dying to be typical but I grew up with a single mom, I was overweight and I was a musical theater kid who really had no social norms," he explained. "Comedy was my natural defense mechanism."

At the age of 15, Peck weighed nearly 300 pounds and knew that he needed to make some changes. After a year-and-a-half of healthier eating and exercising, he lost 127 pounds, but that didn't mean he was satisfied just yet. "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," he said. "And that became my next chapter. I used food and drugs to numb my feelings."

While experimenting with drugs and alcohol provided an outlet for his pain and insecurities, he found himself getting a reputation in Hollywood for his "unstable and erratic" behavior. "I had worked so hard for this thing and I was getting very close to losing it," he said. That's when he realized he needed to do something and joined a treatment program to help him get sober. "By walking through discomfort and by doing my best to break down the false identity I had for myself, I was able to get to the place that I was always seeking," he said. "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."

The actor married film editor Paige O'Brien in 2017 and added the role of dad to his life with their son Max, 3. The couple are currently expecting baby number two. He's also still acting and can currently be seen playing a Rabbi who's helping a congregant prepare for his bar-mitzvah in the Netflix movie, "13: The Musical."