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The filmmaker admits he had real fears that his brother wouldn’t survive the period of his life
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- Clint Howard began experimenting with drugs and alcohol as a young adult and struggled with addiction for several years
- The actor’s older brother, filmmaker Ron Howard, previously opened up about feeling partially responsible for the period in his brother’s life
- The two spoke with Graham Bensinger in 2023 on his podcast about the difficult time for their family and how they got through
Ron Howard vulnerably reflected on one of his family’s biggest challenges — brother Clint Howard’s struggle with addiction.
Both the famed director, now 72, and his younger brother, 67, appeared on In Depth with Graham Bensinger in 2023. During their conversations on the show, they discussed the period in Clint’s life, and Ron candidly addressed his own guilt that he struggled with.
“I had been really strictly controlled as a kid. My parents must have been worried about kidnapping and other things,” Ron shared, saying that he “chafed” under their parenting style and wanted something different for his brother.
“So I pushed mom and dad. To give him more freedom and more flexibility. And even when Clint was starting to smoke pot and things like that... I wasn’t using any drugs, but I had really good friends who were and were highly functional and socially responsible about it. And I just I said, ‘You know, this is not, it’s not a nightmare. This is changing times, relax,’ ” he continued.
Ron said that he felt like “a voice kind of telling them to back off as parents,” adding that it all occurred at a time when “they might have been able to do something.”
“And so those are regrets that I have,” he admitted.
Looking back on the experience, he said, “That was a difficult, heartbreaking time and thing to witness. It was terrifying, and I wasn’t sure Clint was going to make it out. I don’t think mom and dad were sure he was going to make it out.”
Ron recalled that the situation escalated, reaching a point where he said his brother was “delusional and having kind of episodes that were drug-related,” adding that there were “brushes with the law,” and Clint was “flirting with kind of homelessness.”
“It was unsustainable. And he’d been through rehab a couple of times unsuccessfully, and it looked like it was just getting worse,” he said. There was a change when Clint “found the will, himself, to live.”
“Dad really helped him turn that corner, once Clint decided. I think Dad did his very best parenting when Clint was 30 years old and in a lot of trouble. He found ways to sort of give him just enough money to live on and just enough space to feel autonomous, but with a lot of supervision,” Ron reflected, referring to it as an era of “tough love.”
During his own portion of the interview, Clint pushed back against his brother’s guilt, saying, “Well, that’s a nice thought, but I kind of call bulls--- on that.”
“Listen, I don’t know... What’s a big brother going to do? I mean, I love Ron. And I knew what he was thinking,” he continued, recalling a time the two went to the Super Bowl together and they had a conversation.
“He gave me the speech, because he had been around a lot of young actors that get loaded and high or whatever, and he goes, ‘You know, it’s one thing when you use drugs, but it’s another thing when drugs start using you,’ ” he recalled.
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Clint explained, “One problem with Ron is this. His talks were a little cliché. But if he would have played it differently? I may have fully rejected it. Ron and I were always really close.”
Years later, the brothers’ bond remains as strong as ever.
Speaking to PEOPLE in April 2025, Ron gushed about working with his “unique” and “inventive” brother.
“He’s great to work with. He has just seen it all, done it all,” he said, adding, “He’s a pro, and he contributes. Every time I have had a chance to cast him in something meaningful, I never forced him in there. But every time I can cast Clint, I know that’s one character I won’t have to worry about.”
Read the original article on People
