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Jason Bateman is opening up about the one and only time he got arrested — and how it happened while he was wearing a “little leopard outfit.”
On the Monday, July 20, episode of his “SmartLess” podcast, the actor told cohosts Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, plus guest Timothy Olyphant, about getting booked during a night out in Monaco.
The arrest story
The subject came up after Olyphant said he’s never been arrested, which led Bateman to share his story.
“It happened to me once,” he said. “I was arrested in Monaco for being drunk and disorderly in a nice little leopard outfit fresh from the casinos, all banged up on cheap champagne and a pocket full of chips. Just got rocked.”
Although Bateman didn’t specify when the arrest took place, he has been sober for years. He no longer drinks or uses drugs aside from marijuana.
Jason Bateman’s sobriety
Bateman told The Hollywood Reporter in February that work came before anything else and that his days of going out mostly ended after he was cast in Arrested Development in 2003.
“Fortunately, I was living at a time without social media and camera phones, so I got away with a lot, but it was definitely close a few times,” Bateman said.
“I’ve got friends who had bottoms that were pretty chilling, but I was lucky enough to recognize, ‘This is probably as far as I should go if I still want to accomplish the things that I want to get to,’” he continued.
Bateman added that he always had his future in mind. “I was conscious the whole time of wanting to get a lot of these boxes checked before I became a father and a guy with a career that I not only wanted but had a feeling I might be able to get it if I just got the right job,” he said.
Putting family first
Bateman’s wife, Amanda Anka, also had a big hand in helping him get sober.
“Amanda and I definitely had a few negotiations about the point at which the [partying] spigot was going to completely turn off,” he told THR. “She’d be like, ‘This drip, drip, drip is annoyingly unpredictable, Jason.’”
While Bateman said Anka “didn’t demand that [he] completely absolve,” the topic came up a lot. “I was like, ‘Well, I feel like my [sobriety] ETA is six months away, but if I could land this plane now, it would alleviate a lot of the tension, so let’s just f****** do it.'”
‘Softie’ dad
The actor is now a proud “softie” dad to two daughters — Francesca, 19, and Maple, 14 — with Anka.
He told THR that he loves every part of being home with his family — “the slippers, the fireplace, the nesting,” he said.
When the Ozark star won a SAG Award in 2019, he made sure to thank Anka and their daughters for being his biggest supporters.
“I would like to say specifically though to my wife, my two daughters ― Amanda, Franny and Maple ― without you, none of it would be enjoyable and it probably wouldn’t be possible,” he said at the time. “I love you more than I even tell you I do, and I’ll be home for kisses so don’t go to bed. Amanda, pop a mint, I’m going to come give you yours in about five minutes.”
