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GROWING PAINS Star Jeremy Miller on His Road to Sobriety: ‘It’s an Incredible Blessing’

Photo from Jeremy Miller’s Instagram

GROWING PAINS Star Jeremy Miller on His Road to Sobriety: ‘It’s an Incredible Blessing’

By Movieguide® Staff

Actor Jeremy Miller, known for his role in the sitcom GROWING PAINS, recently opened up about the lowest points of his life during his battle with alcoholism.

Miller said that after deciding to drive after drinking a “half pint of vodka” and receiving a DUI, he knew he was in a dark place.

The 45-year-old is seven years sober but said he would never forget his angry outbursts and blackouts while drunk.

“I’m in recovery since 2011, had a couple little stumbles,” he told Fox News Digital. “I’ll be honest, this is one of the parts of my story that I like to be honest with people.”

Miller revealed that his problem with drinking started at a young age and continued after his time in the spotlight with other actors like Alan Thicke, Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold, Joanna Kerns, and Leonardo DiCaprio on GROWING PAINS.

The show ran for seven seasons and ended in 1992. It was not until 2011 that Miller felt like he had hit “rock bottom.”

“I tried rehab, in-patient rehab, outpatient rehab, hydrotherapy, herbal therapies,” he said. “I tried hypnosis. I tried just about everything I could find, and just nothing worked for me. Nothing helped me get past that constant bombarding craving that was always there.”

However, as his alcoholism persisted, he started to hurt the people closest to him, like his fiancée Joanie Miller.

“It was every morning I woke up, blacked out, you know, from a blackout, having to ask her what happened,” he recalled. “It was just all that horrific stuff, and it was a daily basis at this point. I mean, at this point, I was blacking out every single day and night.”

Miller said he was “desperate for that help” and looked to the BioCorRx implant, a medicine used to treat opioid addictions.

“BICX104 is an implantable naltrexone pellet being studied to treat opioid use disorder and the importance of such a product is to address the need in the treatment space to have a naltrexone product that can last several months after single administration. Naltrexone has been around for decades and has been proven to be effective but adherence to taking it has been an issue. Implantable naltrexone, like BICX104, is to address that noncompliance,” BioCorRx Pharmaceuticals CEO Brady Granier said.

Despite the injections’ immediate effect on his craving for alcohol, it was not an easy road to sobriety.

“Some financial difficulties arose, I had a pretty big fight with my fiancée and I bolted the house and … I stopped at the liquor store,” he said. “It’s the only DUI I ever got, and believe me, I deserved many more, and I don’t say that lightly.

“It’s probably the thing I’m most ashamed of in my drinking career, is how many times I put other peoples’ lives at risk by getting behind the wheel. I did it way more than I like to admit,” he added. “But I got in the car that day. I pounded a half pint of vodka, probably would have drowned, drank a lot more, and I got pulled over for a DUI, and from that point on, I got back into working on my recovery.”

After several wake-up calls and close calls, Miller knew that staying sober would take hard work and dedication.

“I wasn’t doing the things I needed to do, the work I needed to do to try and stay sober on a daily basis,” he said. “Thankfully, that stumble was just a day. I didn’t fall off the cliff. It didn’t turn into a bender, which is rare. I mean that, truthfully, that happens more often than not.

“When I see alcoholics stumble, it usually turns into a longer thing. But I was very blessed in that I realized immediately how badly I had screwed up and what had happened. And I needed to jump back into doing the work. So I’ve been completely and totally sober for over seven years now. And it’s, believe me, an incredible blessing,” he said. “If you don’t do that work, and you just try and rely on this magic bullet, it’s not, you know, your chances are very slim. So, like everything in life, it still takes work.”

For Miller, faith is what ultimately mended his broken heart.

In 2019, Miller wrote a book called “When I Wished upon a Star: From Broken Homes to Mended Hearts” with Brandon Lane Phillips.

“I started running from God. I wasn’t angry at God, I was just ashamed,” he said while on the JESUS CALLING: STORIES OF FAITH podcast. “I knew I was doing everything wrong. I quit going to church. I quit praying. I quit everything. I just ran the other direction. And it was a miserable way to live, I can tell you that.”

However, Miller said that more than BioCorRx, his family and faith supported him the most.

“My family, my faith, and my recovery are the center of my life every single day,” he told the podcast. “[I am] able to utilize all the hurts, all the problems, all the horrors that I went through in my addiction, and even growing up, to help others.

“The fact that God gives us that opportunity to take that pain and those struggles and use them for something good and give them a purpose is such a blessing. And in my mind, it makes all of it worth it,” he added. “God’s plan—good, bad, or indifferent as it’s affecting our life at that moment—is exactly how He meant it to be. So wherever we are, whatever we’re dealing with right now, at this moment, is exactly perfect.”

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.