Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who passed away this week at 53, rose to fame thanks to his 2004 movie Super Size Me exposing the dangers of fast food.
Spurlock claimed he ate nothing but McDonald's for an entire month during the filming of the documentary, which showed the adverse effects of his diet on his physical and psychological health.
But it was later revealed that he had been struggling with alcohol abuse during that same period, RadarOnline.com can report.
In 2017, Spurlock admitted to a history of sexual misconduct and disclosed that he had been drinking heavily for decades.
"Is it because I’ve consistently been drinking since the age of 13? I haven’t been sober for more than a week in 30 years, something our society doesn’t shun or condemn but which only served to fill the emotional hole inside me and the daily depression I coped with," he said.
That confession directly contradicted Spurlock's statements in Super Size Me. "Any alcohol use?" a doctor asked him at the outset of the fast food experiment chronicled in the film. "Now? None," Spurlock replied.
Spurlock's all-McDonald's stunt diet seemingly took a toll on his health. By the end of the 30 days, he had gained 25 pounds and begun suffering from depression and liver dysfunction.
At one point in the documentary, a doctor examining him told Spurlock that he was "pickling his liver" and said that it looked like "an alcoholic's after a binge."
"If somebody were doing this to their liver with alcohol, they could theoretically wipe out their liver cells and they'd be in liver failure," the doctor added. "Now, I've never heard of anybody doing this to their liver with a high-fat diet, but I guess anything's possible."
Because Spurlock failed to mention his alcoholism at the time, it was assumed that the effects on his liver were due solely to the fast-food diet. McDonald's discontinued its "supersized" meal portions six weeks after the film's debut.
But since the truth of his alcoholism emerged, viewers have been forced to wonder how much of the health issues discussed in the film were connected to his alcohol abuse.
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Spurlock released a follow-up, Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, in 2017. After Spurlock admitted to past sexual misconduct, the film was pulled from the Sundance Film Festival that year.
Craig Spurlock, Morgan's brother, confirmed his death on Friday morning. Spurlock reportedly passed away on Thursday from complications brought on by a battle with cancer.