PewDiePie opens up about his past drinking habits in emotional podcast

Brent Koepp

YouTube superstar Felix ‘PewDiePie‘ Kjellberg recently opened about “self control” and his past problems with alcohol in a brutally honest podcast on July 10.

PewDiePie may be best known for his meme reviews and comedy, but he’s also used his channel in the past to talk about serious issues with his audience.

In 2017, he released two videos on mental health and ‘forced positivity’ within the YouTube community. In the videos, he addressed how unhappy YouTubers can be, and why it’s okay to talk about depression. Now he’s opened up about his own personal history with alcohol.

PewDiePie opened up about past alcohol issues

The Swedish YouTuber recently appeared on the ‘Cold Ones’ podcast, which is hosted by ‘Anything4views’. During the almost two hour long conversation, the humorous tone suddenly turned serious when PewDiePie opened up about about his past drinking habits.

 “I read this book on Buddhism, and it talked about self-control, and being in control of your body. And not always just doing what your craving wants you to do. I never thought about self control before, and how that changes your mentality.” he said.

(Timestamp 00:00:17 for mobile viewers.)

He then talked about a drinking habit he didn’t realize had formed. “I used to have this habit of drinking whiskey, and I realized how hard it was just to stop that habit. I was like oh shit, it was actually kind of scary.”

The YouTube superstar dove into the reasons why he started drinking, and said: “I started drinking whiskey because I was always working constantly. I never felt like I had a period where I could chill or relax at the end of the day.” He even retold a story where he was on a call with Disney at the time, and drank to relieve the stress.

This isn’t the first time he’s mentioned it

During the height of the PewDiePie vs T-Series showdown, the YouTuber released the sarcastic ‘Congratulations’ video when T-Series passed him in subs.

Surprisingly, the song contained the lyrics “Just there to pop bottles with my nine-year-old army, non-alcoholic cause I had a real problem” which referenced his past problems with alcohol.

PewDiePie’s honest conversation about alcohol shines a light on how stressful some jobs can actually be. And how easy it is for a habit to form without even knowing it.

We hope that the conversation makes more people realize that anyone can form a habit, and it’s okay to talk about it and get help.