EXCLUSIVE: Rob and Michele Reiner's Troubled Son Nick Called Sobriety 'The Worst 30 Days of Your Life' and Claimed Staying Clean Wasn't 'An Accomplishment' Years Before Horrific Murders
Nick Reiner revealed why 12-step programs never worked for his raging drug addiction.
Dec. 18 2025, Published 3:56 p.m. ET
Rob and Michele Reiner's troubled son Nick bashed sobriety, calling staying clean not "an accomplishment" while continuing to use drugs, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Nick, 32, made the provocative comments during a 2018 podcast where he admitted to having a tough time staying in programs that would keep him off substances. The former screenwriter had gone to rehab 18 times since the age of 15, yet none of the trips seemed to help him when it came to drug use.
He was arrested on Sunday, December 14, and charged with the gruesome double murders of his parents.
'30 Days' of Sobriety Felt Like '30 Months'
Nick Reiner said using drugs in a limited capacity was more effective than going completely sober.
"If I went to 30 meetings in 30 days, and I stayed sober for that whole time, but those 30 days seemed like 30 months. They're the worst 30 days of your life because you're just thinking about being sober every single day," Nick confessed to pal Dave Manheim on his Dopey podcast.
Nick felt it was better to limit his drug and alcohol intake rather than go cold turkey without using any substances.
"As opposed to if you weren't to go crazy and just smoke some weed, drink some beer, do whatever you gotta do," he continued.
"Who knows, you might get some more work done during that period or something else that you want to get done," Nick added about how minimizing substance use would take away having to focus on staying committed to being completely sober.
'Staying Clean' Was Not 'An accomplishment'
The troubled son also mocked the idea of being sober.
Nick mocked the idea of committing to sobriety on the podcast.
"I'd just rather not spend my life just constantly ticking away at the days that I've stayed clean, because I don't really feel staying clean is an accomplishment in life," he scoffed. "Because a lot of just clean people don't do great things."
Nick also went to trash rehab programs, claiming they were simply a money grab and not entirely in step with sobriety solutions such as AA.
"AA and the rehab industry are a separate entity," he claimed while sharing his bitterness towards the treatment programs he'd been to.
"What I do know is that 99 percent of the places say they are 12-step based, and literally they rip the entire program, which is intended to be a free service, and they make money off of a program that if you relapse, they make even more money," Nick fumed in contempt.
'I Have a Drug Addiction'
Nick Reiner said he couldn't get past the first step of 12-step programs.
The onetime screenwriter said he could accept the first step of 12-step programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, where one must admit they are powerless over their substance abuse and their life has become unmanageable.
"I can get to the first step. I can admit that I'm powerless, that I have a drug addiction," Nick shared.
However, he couldn't get past what comes next, as addicts in the program need to "accept that there is a higher power in the universe than yourself," sometimes God, and that one must surrender to a higher purpose to find meaning in life once again.
Nick claimed he couldn't reach the steps because of the "God situation," saying it was "hard" for him to get a "hold of."
'We Were Desperate'
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Rob Reiner said she shouldn't have sent his son to rehab so many times as needed to have 'listened' to his son.
Rob said during a 2016 interview that he'd come to believe treatment programs weren't right for his son.
"The program works for some people, but it can’t work for everybody," the legendary director confessed. "When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen."
"We were desperate, and because the people had diplomas on their wall, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son," Rob added, about turning away from experts urging them to get Nick into treatment programs.
