Part of the reason I—and presumably you—love celebrities is because they seem to lead the kind of charmed lives we could only dream of. But that doesn't exempt them from issues with mental health, addiction, and the like. Will Arnett, star of the much-loved sitcom Arrested Development and the new Netflix original series Flaked, is the latest celebrity to open up about his battle with alcohol addiction. In the April 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter, Arnett shares about how even though he'd been sober for years, the creative process behind his new show led him to drink again.

More Americans are addicted to alcohol than any other substance, with one in every 12 adults dealing with alcohol abuse or dependence, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD). And it's not really about how much one drinks. "The alcoholic is frequently in the grip of a powerful craving for alcohol, a need that can feel as strong as the need for food or water," says the NCADD. "While some people are able to recover without help, the majority of alcoholics need outside assistance to recover from their disease." That outside assistance can come in the form of behavioral treatments like learning how to cope with drinking triggers, medication, and support groups, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. But as Arnett shows, even if someone struggles with alcohol and gets sober, they could eventually find themselves battling it again.

He originally got the idea for Flaked, which has been met with multiple critical reviews, in summer 2012 during what he calls "a tricky place in [his] life." Neither his marriage to Parks and Recreation's Amy Poehler nor his NBC sitcom Up All Night was doing well. "I started to write this character based on things that I loathed in other people and the sort of injustice of the world," he told The Hollywood Reporter. The resulting character, Chip, tries to make his way through life as an alcoholic hiding the fact that he's drinking again. "[Arnett] wrote, produced and co-created the show with pal Mark Chappell and plays the 40-something man at the center whose struggles with sobriety are drawn heavily from Arnett's past. It is, without question, the most intimate, grounded piece of entertainment he's ever been involved in," says The Hollywood Reporter.

Arnett didn't stumble upon success. In what The Hollywood Reporter calls "one particularly grim pilot season," years ago, he was distraught. "It was so f*cking depressing. I'm so lucky I didn't own a pistol," he said. When he'd return to New York after failed auditions, he'd juggle voiceover work with nights spent drinking at a bar called Peter McManus.

"I could've gone to law school a couple of times over with the time and money I spent in that place," he said jokingly. "It didn't matter if I was hungover because I could roll out of bed and go do a voiceover. Or at least I'd [tell myself that] at 3 A.M.," he said. Things seemed to be looking up when in 1999, he got a job on The Mike O'Malley Show, but it got canceled after two episodes. Devastated, Arnett spiraled from there.

"A commercial strike left him without his steady diet of voiceover work, removing the last limits on when, and how much, he could drink," says The Hollywood Reporter. Arnett "spent four or five months doing nothing and feeling sorry for [himself]" until a friend told Arnett he needed help. In 2000, he started going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and got sober, which is an incredibly brave choice when the alternative is often much less scary.