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KJ Apa is opening up about a moment when co-star Cole Sprouse literally punched him in the face to snap him out of a relapse.
Speaking on the Wildmen podcast with Dylan Sprouse and Brendan Columbus, the 29-year-old actor recalled a night at a Vancouver strip club when Cole confronted him after learning he was back on drugs.
"He punched me in the face and I ran away," Apa admitted. "He hit me because we were in a strip club and at this time, I was doing a lot of drugs. A lot of my close friends were worried about me. It was a wake-up punch."
Apa explained that sobriety has been a long, difficult journey, especially during the years he spent filming Riverdale from 2017 to 2023.
"Anything that makes me feel good, I will abuse," he said. "Even eating. My relationship with eating, especially on that show, was bad."
Apa described struggling with an eating disorder while under pressure to maintain a shirtless physique. "I used to eat donuts all day long, then go back to my trailer and throw up," he revealed.
He also recalled ordering massive amounts of fast food during the pandemic, only to sabotage it so he wouldn't binge further. "I had so many things that I was doing that were so unhealthy," he admitted, blaming the constant exposure and fame.
Leaving Riverdale gave Apa the chance to reevaluate his life. "When I first came off Riverdale, I didn't know if I liked acting. I didn't know if I belonged in this industry. Honestly, the first step was getting sober," he said.
Now more than a year sober, Apa credits fatherhood with helping him stay on track. He shares a four-year-old son, Sasha, with ex-girlfriend Clara Berry. "A lot of things that I realized I had to button up, I buttoned up, and I realized that there's no other way for me to do it.''
