Frankie Muniz, 38, doesn't drink alcohol and never has. Speaking to Mayim Bialik on Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown, a mental health podcast, the Malcolm in the Middle actor (who is now a professional race car driver) said that he wasn't really exposed to drinking and smoking growing up despite working in the entertainment industry at a young age. "I went to set, I did my thing," he explained, adding that he wasn't really around alcohol at all until the age of 18.
When he was a teenager, he already felt like he was "so old."
Once he turned 18 and was exposed to alcohol, he felt like he had already gone so long without alcohol, so there was no point in starting to drink.
"I felt like I had made it so long without it that I was kind of like, ‘Well, I’m not going to start now,’ even though I was only 18," he said on the podcast.
“Were you raised in a tradition that did not drink?” Mayim asked when trying to understand why he didn't drink.
“I tried to figure out why I didn’t because I don’t have a reason. It wasn’t, like, a religion,” he said, also adding that everyone else in his family drinks.
More from LittleThings: Amanda Bynes Calls Getting Eyelid Surgery 'One Of The Best Things I Could've Ever Done'
When he was younger, because he wasn't exposed to alcohol or drugs, he thought that only "criminals" smoked pot. As an adult, when talking to his parents about it, he learned that his parents actually "smoked pot every single day, [Frankie] just didn’t know."
Once he got to the age where people were offering him alcohol, he was surprised by the way people reacted to his decision to not consume it.
“I couldn’t believe everyone’s reactions when I said I don’t drink. ‘Oh, we’re at a club, we have a bottle. You want a drink?’ ‘No, I don’t drink. I’m good with water.’ Everyone was either shocked or appalled that I didn’t drink. Or they’d be like, ‘Wow, that’s so strong of you,'" he said.
“I was always kind of like, ‘It’s so weird that people have such a strong reaction to me not drinking,’” he said. “Like, who cares? I don’t care what you do. Why do you care so much about me?’ I don’t know if I made a conscious decision, but it just stuck with me that I was never gonna drink or do anything.”
He thinks his decision to not drink has something to do with his "hatred toward time." He explained that he tries to do a lot every day because he hates that time passes so quickly. He wants to live as much as possible.
Frankie also talked about his experience with concussions, memory loss, and what was originally diagnosed as a transient ischemic attack, or mini-stroke. He later found out that what was originally diagnosed as a mini-stroke could've been a migraine with aura.
Throughout his life, he has also had several concussions. At times, he has also felt like he has memory issues, though he can't say for sure that the two are connected. He knows that his memory might be worse than other people's, but he doesn't let it affect the way he lives his life.
He said he just lives his life, though the possible misdiagnosis also had a significant impact on his life.
