Podcast clips shed light on Nick Reiner's struggles with addiction

Podcast clips in which Nick Reiner shares his struggles with addiction have resurfaced after the 32-year-old allegedly killed his parents, Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70, earlier this week. 

Nick Reiner appeared on the "Dopey Podcast," which focuses on addiction and recovery, a handful of times. 

"He was just one of us," said David Manheim, who hosts the podcast. "He was just another drug addict in recovery, trying to get himself together. He was young and bright and handsome and full of life."

During his last appearance, on Aug. 17, 2018, he shared a story about punching walls and destroying a TV after his parents told him he had to leave their guesthouse. Nick Reiner added that his drug use landed him in the hospital during a cross-country trip. 

"To make the really long story short, I wound up having a cocaine heart attack," he said in 2018. 

After waking up in a Boston-area hospital, Nick Reiner said he went into a detox and sober living facility. During the 2018 podcast episode, Manheim asked him what ended his sobriety.

"I don't know," Nick Reiner said. "I just didn't want to be away from home, and I just wanted to come back home."

When he returned home, Nick Reiner said, he was happy reading scripts and screenwriting. However, Manheim said something felt off after Nick Reiner asked him for help getting into a treatment center. He said Nick Reiner followed up with him. 

"I didn't have a feeling that he had a full grasp of recovery, but I was hopeful that he could find one," Manheim said. 

Manheim called the high-profile deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner heartbreaking.

"We always wind up sifting through the wreckage of their story, trying to find a tell," Manheim said. "The answer is that you can never find a tell, and that when you're using, there's an inherent danger all the time."