AA is supposed to be fighting addiction, but for these two Hollywood actors, it was all about fighting each other.
Talking to Brad Pitt on his Armchair Expert podcast, Dax Shepard recalled a time he got into a brawl with a fellow Hollywood actor at an AA meeting. Thankfully, the two of them are the best of friends now, but it was a rocky start to their relationship.
While attending AA in 2014, Shepard was in the same meeting as Eric Dane. The two of them were at someone’s house in Bel-Air when the altercation kicked off. Despite the house being intended for healing from addiction, tempers were high.
“In the middle of the meeting, he goes, ‘If you hit that timer again, I’m gonna f***ing throw you in that candle,” Dax recalled Dane saying to the timekeeper. But Dax was having none of it and replied with the same amount of aggression.
“And I go, “That’s it, motherfer, let’s go. Stand up, let’s go outside.” He stands up to go outside, and I’m gonna beat the f out of him in Tom’s driveway at an AA meeting where we’re coming for healing and understanding.”
The two Hollywood actors took it outside at the AA meeting and were about to get into a brawl.
AA Sponsor De-Escalated the Hollywood Showdown
This isn’t the first time the two Hollywood actors have recalled the brawl that kicked off during their AA meeting. Eric Dane also looked back on their fateful meeting that resulted in a long and supportive friendship.
“I was not in the best space. Let’s just say that. I may not even have been sober at the time. And this poor kid buzzes the buzzer one more time, and I said, “If you buzz that buzzer one more time, dude, I’m going to stick it up your a**,” Eric recalled on Shephard’s podcast.
The two Hollywood recovering alcoholics took their brawl outside. As Eric recalled, they came close to throwing down. “So we’re outside and Dax is like, “What the f*** was that about, man?!” And just as I’m about to open my mouth, our sponsor comes out and gets in between the middle of us.”
With hindsight, Eric admitted that Dax would have flattened him in the brawl outside the AA meeting. Luckily for both men, it never came to that, and during their journey to recovery, they became famous friends.