As his love life continued to decline, he began to suffer and turned to several substances. His unhealthy habits didn’t help his acting career either.
By the end of the 1960s, his life was in shambles.
”I was loaded all the time. I’d wake up about 6:30 in the morning, take three aspirins mixed with codeine, slug down half a pint of vodka, and then do four lines of cocaine,” he shared.
But Donahue always maintained that his addiction never tainted any sets he worked on, claiming he was never drunk or otherwise impaired while working. His career was, according to the actor, not the reason he began drinking in the first place.
He first drank in the seventh grade while studying for an exam. This developed into a habit that grew with time and that nearly destroyed his future.
At one point, as a young man, he was reportedly living in the bushes at Central Park, keeping all of his belongings in a backpack.
