Dr. Drew Pinksy is making some sobering observations about former Laguna Beach star Jason Wahler, who he treats on VH1's Celebrity Rehab (premiering Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST).
VIDEO: Janice Dickinson has thoughts of suicide on Celebrity Rehab
"The one thing that struck me in the opening day was, I did his physical exam and he had clear stigmata — signs of advanced alcoholism," Pinksy says of Wahler, 23. "This guy's in his early 20s and he has the kind of alcohol damage that usually I've seen in 50-year old dads."
After Wahler's sixth alcohol-related arrest in March, the reality star told UsMagazine.com that he felt "very, very ashamed of everything." Though he went to AA meetings up to five times a week, he "started falling out of the program" once he began to pursue an acting career.
Because of Wahler's troubled past, Pinsky wasn't exactly surprised when he joined stars such as Janice Dickinson, Jason Davis and Rachel Uchitel for the series' fourth season.
"This guy was clear to me as a hardcore alcoholic. I had seen him on the show in Season 1 of Laguna Beach," Pinsky, 52, tells VH1. "I literally was yelling at the television like, 'Is anybody gonna help this kid? You know how much of a drug addict this is? Anybody but me gonna speak up?' And evidently it took quite a bit more before anybody did speak up."
