Shameless star Jody Latham reveals pressure of lockdown saw him go to rehab for a drinking problem

SHAMELESS star Jody Latham has revealed the pressure of lockdown saw him go into rehab for substance abuse.

The actor, who now runs a multimillion pound cosmetics company, said the stress of business in 2020 saw him begin drinking more than usual.

Jody, 38, said: “I did a stint in rehab – I’ve never spoken about this publicly. It wasn’t for me – but I learned a lot from it.

“My substance abuse is minimal, I do drink sometimes, not every day and not a lot, but because I was going through anxiety and business worries, there was an opportunity to go and refresh.

“It was exhaustion as well. I took a week out, it was going to be a month, but I took a week.”

The actor, who found fame as wheeler dealer Lip Gallagher in the Channel 4 sitcom, made the revelation on James English’s Anything Goes podcast.

He added: “I looked at doing AA but it’s all on video, Zoom and all that, so it
wasn’t really for me.

“Introducing me to it via Zoom seemed a bit futuristic for me. But when I got in there I realised people had far bigger issues that me and that made me feel a little uncomfortable.

“They were dealing with serious issues so I felt a bit intrusive on them. I felt rude being there, other people needed this more than I do.”