Actor-comedian Andy Dick, 59, has checked himself in to rehab following a public overdose earlier this week that was caught on camera.
The star, who rose to fame in the mid-1990s with his role on the NBC sitcom NewsRadio, confirmed to TMZ that he would be entering a rehabilitation facility in Palm Springs, California, after previously telling a reporter from the outlet that he would not be seeking treatment.
“I’m not going to be in rehab,” Dick told the reporter, before asking them, “Do I need help? Do we all need help? Do you need help?”
The decision to seek treatment comes after photos of Dick overdosing on a Los Angeles street circulated on Tuesday. According to Dick, the overdose came after he smoked crack cocaine with a stranger. Narcan, a drug that can reverse the effects of opiate overdoses, was administered.
Speaking to TMZ, Dick—who will turn 60 on Dec. 21—said that he met a man he felt sorry for who, during the course of their conversation, “whipped out” some crack.
“And I’m like, ‘I might need a little bit of that,’” Dick explained. “I wanted to see what he was doing. And also, I don’t mind doing a little crack every now and then.”
One of Dick’s friends added that the overdose was filmed because he was livestreaming his whole day with the comedian.
According to TMZ, Dick sounded “very animated” during their phone interview on Friday. He was cracking jokes and making it “clear he’s ready to commit to clean up.” He is being supported in his recovery by Sober House‘s Jennifer Gimenez, who confirmed to TMZ that Dick received a “full-ride scholarship offer” for rehab.
Dick, who got his big break on The Ben Stiller Show in 1990 before getting his own program, The Andy Dick Show, in 2001, has a long history of substance abuse issues.
In a 2016 interview, he told Vice that he had been to rehab more than 20 times. A year later, he was fired from two movie roles over allegations of inappropriate behavior on set, including groping, unwanted kissing and licking, and improper conduct.
Dick told The Hollywood Reporter at the time that he had taken too many Xanax and went “a bit loopy. I won’t do it anymore. I won’t lick anyone’s face anymore.”
