Butch Patrick, Onetime Eddie Munster, Enters Rehab

By Zach Dionne Posted Nov 11th 2010 07:51AM

Butch Patrick, who played Eddie on 'The Munsters,' checked into a New Jersey rehab facility looking for help with a 40-year addiction to alcohol, cocaine and marijuana, TMZ reports.

Patrick, 57, has had a long, albeit off-the-radar, career in showbiz since the 1960s creature sitcom. Patrick's rep tells TMZ he hopes to "get a grip on his addiction and educate himself."

Patrick's family has reportedly pushed him to get help for three decades. His rep adds, "We have thought he could possibly be a product of the child star problem ... and are thankful he will take control of his fate."

In 1989, PEOPLE ran a story titled "Once a Little Munster, Butch Patrick Grew Up to Battle Scarier Demons." The profile now reads almost prophetically: "Ever since 'The Munsters,' Patrick -- who later acquired a felony drug conviction -- has felt sure that another monster success was just around the corner."

Patrick, 35 at the time, told PEOPLE: "I've been trying to hit home runs all my life and striking out. Now I'm going to try to hit a few singles and doubles." He recalled buying drugs for the first time at age 16 and battling the problem ever since. "I never did heroin, never put a needle in my arm, but I did a lot of coke and psychedelics. Occasionally I'd be the middleman and get the stuff for free. I'm basically a hustler."

Butch professed to many years with "no ambition," and told PEOPLE he had quit his addictions in 1987. "I straightened my own life out in my own time," he said. "Maybe I should have gone to rehab, but I didn't. A little man inside me said it was time to get my life in order."

News arrived just this summer that Patrick would marry his self-described "biggest fan," retired pharmacist Donna McCall, with whom he corresponded as a child. An AP story on Patrick's rehab notes that he moved to the Philadelphia area earlier this year to be near McCall, and that they split last week.

Patrick spoke fondly of 'The Munsters' in an interview with the LA Times just before Halloween this year: "It's really never gone off the radar. It's just pure, simple fun. It's from an era where people watched talking horses, genies in a bottle and monsters who live next door. It was all about escapism, as opposed to all the reality TV that's on now."

Wish Butch Well on Facebook

Tags: Butch Patrick, celebrity rehab, Eddie Munster, The Munsters

Comments

(28)

Thursday 11 November

By gail

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get clean from drugs it's never too late. good luck

By Fred

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Yikes......talk about 30 miles of bad road!!!

By BTDT

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Poor guy looks like Kieth Richards with an appetite.

By Sophie

As Herman Munster used to say, "Why can't life be like it is in Mary Poppins"?

By dawg

Now he REALLY looks like a Munster!!!! Lock him up and throw away the key on the bum!!!

By tw

idiot...

By Wanda

Yeah,like that always works!

By themeeker

I feel bad for him and I hope he gets better. But you can tell he's led a life clouded by alcohol and drugs. He's got a mullet for crying out loud. And a really, really bad one at that.

By mark

Little Eddie Munster grew up to be such a handsome, good looking man...he looks great for his age too, whatever he is doing is working in a major way...

By tennwilliams

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so Neil Cavuto isn't Eddie Munster? I'm so bad

By Johnnie

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I am glad he was able to get his ears fixed.

By lin

AT LEAST HE IS GETTING HELP. THERE ARE MANY THAT WON'T EVEN SAY THEY HAVE A PROBLEM. I WISH HIM ALL THE BEST.

By Janet

I agree...at least he now is admitting to the problem & is going for help it. I wish all the best & the strength he'll need to get through it all.

By 64c0dc00

What happened to him????????

By LEE HUFFMAN

Addiction is a very serious problem, Not just to the addict but to family and friends as well. I wish him well and hope some of these are just in bad taste and not meant to be mean spirited.

By JEB BUCKINGHAM

Did he take his Woof-woof with him to rehab?

By John Sullivan

Best of luck to you Butch. You and your fellow cast members brought joy every Thursday night on the US Coast Guard Light Station on Plum Island. It was lonely duty and you guys brought us laughter in '65 and '66.

Loved the Zombo episode, my kids became fans watching the re runs in the '80s.

Good Luck and God Bless!

By gb

goooooo bills !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Donna

Butch, you and lots of people have the same problem.
Stick with the program and you will be fine, in time.
Dont give up for anyone, do it for your self.
It takes some time, but you can do it.
Your in my prayers.

By Jay

I wish him all the luck in the world, however after 40 years of booze and dope addictions its not very likly to end in a good way?

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