Howie Mandel Says He 'Almost Died' While Self-Medicating to 'Escape' Into 'Unconsciousness' During COVID Pandemic

Howie Mandel opened up about a dark period during the COVID pandemic, admitting he used medication to "escape" reality through "unconsciousness."

"I’ve medicated myself, and I’m talking about prescription medication. I’m not self-medicating [now]," Mandel, 70, said during an appearance on Hoda Kotb's "Joy 101" podcast. "Though I did that during COVID and I almost died. So, I’m medicated. I’m surrounded by professionals."

The America's Got Talent judge is open about his struggles with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), explaining he's since developed better coping mechanisms for his symptoms.

"I'm medicated and I have a lot of therapy," he continued. "I have such a fear of those lows, because they’re incredibly painful and hard to navigate, so my life consists of trying to balance up here and manage the medication."

The Gremlins star explained that the COVID pandemic was especially hard on his mental health.

"I’m sober right now, but during the pandemic I couldn’t sleep because part of my rumination is — I make fun of it — but I’m a germaphobe, and a pandemic? I live like I’m in a pandemic anyhow,” Mandel told listeners. "When there’s a real one, it was hard for me to handle."

"It was hard for a lot of people, but I wasn’t strong enough to handle it," he admitted.

The star explained that his sleeping issues became so severe that he started taking marijuana-infused gummies in hopes of "just escaping" and making himself "unconscious."

“There were times when my wife, she couldn’t wake me up or she thought she was going to take me to the hospital,” he recalled. “There’s no middle ground with me. I don’t smoke or I haven’t had a beer, anything, I can’t do anything in moderation. It wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t good. It’s not an excuse, but it was really bad.”

The Deal or No Deal star has been married to his wife, Terry Mandel, since 1980. The pair share children Jackelyn, Alex and Riley.

Mandel credited his wife as his "hero" amid the troubling time, adding, "I don’t know how she does it. She got me to therapy through an ultimatum."

"Finally, my wife just went, 'I can't do this, this is really tiring, go talk to somebody,'" he recounted. "The ultimatum was, 'Try to find some help, because I can’t do this anymore.' She's a hero because she put up with it and sent me to therapy."

The actor also spoke about how he deals with his symptoms today, saying his main coping skill was "distraction." He explained that it was important for him to remain "incredibly busy" to keep from being buried under "dark, recurring thoughts."