Ted was raised in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic mother and an alcoholic father who was absent much of the time. Ted had a very tragic upbringing, one which his half sister did not survive, dying from alcoholism and drug abuse. And even with all the havoc substance abuse caused in his family... he still described himself as a “scotch man” in a recent interview with Anderson Cooper and then extolled the virtues of whiskey and other hard liquors.