Patrick Swayze's drinking problem almost torpedoed his marriage until he gave up liquor last year, People magazine says.
Swayze, 37, says he had problems in the 1980s adapting to his fame and his father's death."I got in my head that as an actor I had to suffer," the star of "Ghost" says. "And at the same time I was hearing that, like my father, I would have no choice over alcohol in my life so I decided to find out. My father didn't get violent, but like him, just two or three (drinks) would waste me. After he died, I'd go up on Mulholland Drive (in Los Angeles), race cars and get crazy."
His wife of 15 years, Lisa Niemi, began going to a support group for families of alcoholics but Swayze didn't rein himself in until one night in early 1989 when he trashed a hotel room.
He quit drinking the next day.