Jason Bateman has recounted the time he was detained for ‘drunk and disorderly’ conduct while visiting Monaco.
The 57-year-old actor shared the anecdote on the latest episode of his SmartLess podcast, which he hosts alongside Sean Hayes and Will Arnett.
‘I was arrested in Monaco for being drunk and disorderly in a nice little leopard outfit, fresh from the casinos, all banged up on,’ the star stated on Monday’s installment.
He noted that he had gotten drunk on ‘cheap champagne’ and had ‘a pocket full of chips.’
Bateman didn’t mention when the incident occurred, but the Ozark star gave up drinking in 2001, meaning it had to have been at least 25 years ago.
Earlier this year he told The Hollywood Reporter (THR) his decision to quit drinking was influenced by wife Amanda Anka, because it caused ‘tension’ in their relationship.
Jason Bateman has recounted the time he was detained for ‘drunk and disorderly’ conduct while visiting Monaco; pictured in November 2025
‘I was arrested in Monaco for being drunk and disorderly in a nice little leopard outfit, fresh from the casinos, all banged up on,’ the star stated on Monday’s episode of his SmartLess podcast; pictured in November 2007
‘Amanda and I definitely had a few negotiations about the point at which the [partying] spigot was going to completely turn off,’ he shared.
‘She’d be like, “This drip, drip, drip is annoyingly unpredictable, Jason,”‘ the father of two recalled about their open-ended conversations.
The couple share daughters Francesca, 19, and Maple, 14.
‘[She] didn’t demand that I completely absolve, but that was sort of the back-and-forth,’ he explained to THR.
Bateman described the timeline, saying his sobriety ‘ETA was six months away’ but, he ultimately reasoned, ‘If I could land this plane now, it would alleviate a lot of the tension, so let’s just f***ing do it.’
While the Emmy-winning producer abstains from alcohol and hard drugs, he continues to partake in smoking weed.
‘I’ve got friends who had bottoms that were pretty chilling, but I was lucky enough to recognize, “This is probably as far as I should go if I still want to accomplish the things that I want to get to,”‘ he told the publication.
He stressed the importance of living a life of sobriety before ushering in fatherhood.
‘I was conscious the whole time of wanting to get a lot of these boxes checked before I became a father and a guy with a career that I not only wanted, but had a feeling I might be able to get it if I just got the right job,’ he explained.
Bateman didn’t mention when the incident occurred, but the Ozark star gave up drinking in 2001, meaning it had to have been at least 25 years ago; pictured in June
Earlier this year he told The Hollywood Reporter his decision to quit drinking was inspired by wife Amanda Anka, because it caused ‘tension’ in their relationship; the couple pictured in March
Bateman was a disciplined child actor, joining the series Little House on the Prairie at age 11 in 1981.
He also starred in Silver Spoons and Teen Wolf Too in order to financially bolster his family.
He wrapped his six-season run as David in NBC sitcom The Hogan Family in 1991, then leaned into a lifestyle of partying.
Bateman recalled: ‘Fortunately, I was living at a time without social media and camera phones, so I got away with a lot, but it was definitely close a few times.’
His career resurgence cane when he portrayed Michael Bluth in Mitchell Hurwitz’s satirical sitcom Arrested Development, which ran for five seasons from 2003-2006 on Fox and 2013-2019 on Netflix.
He then turned to producing, directing and starring in the Netflix drama Ozark, which prefaced his lucrative $100 million deal co-hosting SmartLess.
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