Melanie Lynskey’s husband Jason Ritter didn’t think he ‘deserved’ her due to his alcoholism fight

31 March 2023

Melanie Lynskey’s husband Jason Ritter didn’t think he “deserved” her when they started dating due to his alcoholism battle.

Melanie Lynskey’s husband Jason Ritter didn’t think he ‘deserved’ her when they started dating due to his alcoholism battle

The ‘Yellowjackets’ actress, 45, got hitched to ‘Joan of Arcadia’ star Jason, 43, in 2020 a year after they had their first child, and he fought tears as he opened up about his fight with drink when they appeared together on Wednesday’s (29.03.23) episode of ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’.

Jason, who also admitted it took him a while to realise Melanie was “the one”, said about their rocky road to marriage: “It’s not as cute of a story as you would like to think. It was messy and interesting and weird. But mixed in (with) the mix was I was dealing with some alcoholism issues.

“At a point, I knew how amazing she was and I thought she would be incredible for someone who deserved her, basically.

“And I didn’t feel like I was that person. I felt a little bit too crazy.”

The actor ended up giving up drink the same year he met Melanie, who has built a new fanbase playing tortured plane crash survivor Shauna in ‘Yellowjackets’, but said he waited to make sure he could stay sober before getting more serious with the actress.

He added: “It was only after maybe a year into not drinking where I started to go, ‘Oh, maybe I can promise some things to someone else. Maybe I can be this person.

“I knew that she was incredible. It was working on myself enough to feel like maybe I could be the one for her too.”

Melanie added on the Jason had “worked so hard” to get sober.

Drew, 48, who spent years fighting her addiction demons, told the couple about her battles: “I haven’t had a drink in almost four years,” before adding booze was her “poison”.

She added about previously feeling the way Jason did as he battled to stay with Melanie: “The narrative that one creates is that, ‘I can’t be with someone.’ And I haven’t been in a relationship since I stopped drinking, and I’m really looking forward to one day not having that bad girl narrative, the instability, the ‘I’m not someone who’s right to be with anyone for their sake’ (feeling).”