Noah Centineo Opens Up About His History With Drug Use: “It Was a Really Dark Time”

Noah Centineo has been open and honest about his journey to sobriety, and in Harper’s Bazaar‘s latest men’s digital issue, the 23-year-old actor and cover star reflected on his decision to get sober two years ago.

Noah’s “wild period” began when he was 17 and ended the day before he turned 21 on May 9, 2017. Back then, Noah and his friends would “take Molly and talk for five hours” and try to “get to the bottom of some really deeply philosophical existential questions.” “There wasn’t really much I wouldn’t do,” Noah added. “I never, ever injected anything, which is good. I smoked a lot of things. I was really upset, man. It was a really dark time in my life.”

Noah’s parents divorced when he was 15, and as a result, he and his mom lived in a hotel for a few months, while his sister Taylor stayed with their dad in Florida. “As the 15-year-old living in close quarters with my mom, I felt an obligation to step up and fill a role, fill a position that was vacant at that time, you know, and in doing so, I bristled and I kind of shoved down a lot of emotion.”

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Now, Noah is better at dealing with his emotions. “I like baths. I like meditation. I like journaling. I talk to myself a lot if I’m mad at something that I did. I’ll scream at myself, really, like, looking in the mirror, right? Like, in my room. Like, ‘Dude, like, stop, this is f*cking unacceptable. You’re better than this!'” he explained. “I hold myself very accountable, but I can talk myself off of ledges too. And that’s a strong thing.”

Noah has also found love with 23-year-old model Alexis Ren, and they’ve been dating since early 2019. “It’s the longest relationship I’ve ever been in,” he said. “She’s very good at monogamy. Actually, I love monogamy, too.” Head over to Harper’s Bazaar to read Noah’s full interview.