RED-hot Hollywood actress BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD has vowed to never taste a drop of alcohol after witnessing her uncle’s booze and drug hell!
The ENQUIRER can reveal for the first time that the star of “The Help” swore off drinking at an early age after watching alcohol nearly destroy her uncle Clint Howard’s life.
BUT THANKS TO BRYCE’S Oscar-winning father, director Ron Howard, the family crisis was averted. Ron saved his brother Clint – best known for the ’60s TV hit “Gentle Ben” and as Balok on "Star Trek" – by getting him into Alcoholics Anonymous.
“When his show ended, Clint went from being a TV star to a Hollywood nobody,” a family friend told The ENQUIRER. “It was excruciating and literally drove Clint to booze and drugs.”
To compound Clint’s troubles, his big brother Ron, 58, saw nothing but success, climbing from starring roles on “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Happy Days” to directing the hit movies “Splash,” “Cocoon” and “Apollo 13,” and winning an Oscar for “A Beautiful Mind.”
Clint bottomed out in the early ’90s. At one point he was homeless, and Ron stepped in, pushing his little brother to clean up his act, said the insider.
“Ron literally walked Clint into his first AA meeting and stuck with him until he received his 30-day sober chip,” said the source.
Today Clint, 53, is a pillar of sobriety with an extensive body of film work to his credit.
“Ron kept him busy on his films, but Clint is an amazing character actor and has his own following,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Ron’s daughters, Bryce, Jocelyn and Paige, and son Reed “got a first-hand view of the perils of early success by watching their Uncle Clint’s life turn into a train wreck,” said the source.
Red-headed beauty Bryce vowed never to fall victim to addiction issues.
“I’ve never had a sip of alcohol in my life,” the mother of two has said. “There was alcoholism in my family, so I saw the negative effects and how difficult it was to recover.”
The source added: “Clint’s ordeal left a mark on the entire Howard family. He was able to bounce back thanks to Ron, and now Bryce is a shining example of clean living.”
