'Mad Men's' John Hamm Completes Treatment Program for Alcohol Addiction
John Hamm, 44, who plays lead character Don Draper in the critically acclaimed long-running period drama TV series Mad Men, recently went through and has completed the 30-day treatment program for alcohol addiction according to the Associated Press.
"With the support of his longtime partner Jennifer Westfeldt, Jon Hamm recently completed treatment for his struggle with alcohol addiction. They have asked for privacy and sensitivity going forward," a spokesman for the actor said to the press. As gathered by TMZ, Hamm checked himself at end of February into the high-end Silver Hill Hospital facility in New Canaan, Connecticut, for the treatment program.
In most of his interviews, Hamm has often been asked about the similarities between himself and the character he plays on Mad Men - the heavy drinking, womanizing, chain-smoking Don Draper. In 2008, he told The Guardian: "The closest thing I have in common with Don is that I'm looking for something. If you look at the literature of the early Sixties, like Cheever and Updike, it's existentialist. People sitting around smoking, thinking 'what am I doing with my life?'" He also said, "These guys had three-martini lunches... I appreciate alcohol. I love the place that alcohol holds in our society, but I'd never attempt to drink as much as Draper." More recently, in a 2012 talk with Daily Mail, he said, "I don't drink as much as Don Draper. I would be unconscious if I did."
In 2013, in another interview with The Guardian, Hamm said: "I'm not that methody. I am very cognizant that I am playing a character. Don Draper is a pretty dismal, despicable guy, so why I would want to take him home with me I don't know." But apparently he did, and for which he found himself with a drinking problem that he squarely addressed by checking in at the rehab facility.
Fortunately for Hamm, he will be able to shed off his Don Draper character soon. Mad Men's season seven will also be its last. Part 2 of the final season is set to premiere on April 13.
Hamm will next be seen, or heard rather, as the villain Herb Overkill in the upcoming 3-D computer-animated comedy Minions that will hit theaters beginning July 10.