Chevy Chase checked himself into rehab for "an alcohol-related" issue that his representative called a "tuneup" so the actor can be "the best that he can be," People magazine reported Monday.
Chase, 72, one of the original "Saturday Night Live" performers and "National Lampoon's Vacation" star, reportedly entered the Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center in Center City, Minnesota, for in-patient services, People noted.
Chase was currently filming "Dog Years" with Burt Reynolds and had completed "The Christmas Apprentice."
"This isn't the first time Chase has sought treatment," Zach Johnson of E! News wrote. "In 1986, at age 43, he checked into the Betty Ford drug rehabilitation center for a painkiller addiction. At the time, Chase's publicist said the actor had developed a 'dependency on prescription drugs relating to chronic and long-term back problems' incurred during his time as a cast member on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live.'"
Chase expressed his admiration for the former first lady in a New York Times op-ed in 2006, where he opened up about his addiction.
"If it hadn't been for the courage of (President Gerald) Ford's wife, Betty, for admitting to an alcohol problem, I would never have received the help I needed in the early 1980s at the Betty Ford clinic, located not far from the Ford residence near Palm Springs," Chase wrote.
"During my short stay there, I often saw Mrs. Ford personally surveying the clinic and generously offering a helping hand to those who were lucky enough to face their problems and, with the learned help of the clinic staff, appraise their behavior and their lifestyles," the comedian and actor continued.
Hazelden, located 45 miles northeast of Minneapolis, and the Betty Ford Center merged in 2014 combining its network of 15 care centers in nine states, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. Leemore Dafny, a professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University, told the newspaper that the merger appeared to be a continuation of a national trend in health care in which organizations join forces to "expand their regional and national footprint."
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