Nick Nolte talks about his troubles

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Actor Nick Nolte says addiction led to his 2002 DUI arrest, according to a report on the TV tabloid show "Extra."

Nolte told an interviewer for the syndicated show that he was not consuming "massive amounts of drugs" at the time of his arrest, when he was pulled over on a coastal highway in Southern California. But he said he had been drinking too much GHB -- Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate -- a drug that proponents claim can reduce stress, depression and anxiety, and help fight aging.

"If you take a little bit too much it operates as an anesthetic and knocks you out into a deep sleep," said Nolte. "I shouldn't have been on the road and I did not know how to get out from under (GHB) because I drank it for four years straight."

Nolte said he had become entirely dependent on the drug. He said he tends to "self-destruct" when he gets out of balance.

"Other people handle it in different ways and we all have it," he said. "So, sometimes it's in control and sometimes it's not in control."