Riverdale actor KJ Apa has shared details of a wild off-screen incident with Cole Sprouse, saying his co-star once punched him in the face at a strip club after discovering he was using drugs.
The story came up during an appearance on Wildmen, the new podcast hosted by Dylan Sprouse and Brendan Columbus, which has quickly become a place for the Sprouse brothers and their guests to trade stories from Hollywood and beyond.
During the conversation, the 29-year-old reflected on how difficult it was adjusting to sudden fame while working on the CW series, and how that period led him into some unhealthy habits away from the camera.
Apa said the confrontation happened when Sprouse realized he had returned to substance use and reacted in the moment, trying to stop things from getting any worse.
“Cole punched me in the face in a strip club for doing drugs,” Apa admitted, before making it clear there was no lasting resentment between them.
Rather than viewing it as an act of aggression, Apa said he saw it as a friend stepping in when he needed it most.
“He hit me because we were in a strip club and, at this time, I was doing a lot of drugs and a lot of my close friends were worried about me,” he explained. “And he had learned that I was doing drugs again… It was a love punch.”
He said Sprouse was acting out of concern, trying to protect him during a time when he was spiraling under the strain of newfound celebrity and a destructive lifestyle.
In recent years, Apa has spoken openly about sobriety and the changes that came with becoming a father. In August 2025, he said in a SiriusXM interview that fatherhood “forced” him to get sober and made him realize he had to “button up.”
The New Zealand-born star, who welcomed his son Sasha Vai Keneti Apa in 2021, has said that asking for help and committing to sobriety helped him turn his life around and step away from the party culture that had pulled him in.
He also made it clear that support from people close to him, including Sprouse, played a major role in that process.
The pair spent seven seasons playing Archie Andrews and Jughead Jones from 2017 until 2023, and their friendship extended far beyond the set. At one point, they even lived and quarantined together during the pandemic.
Although the series became known for its increasingly bizarre plots involving serial killers, cults, organ trafficking, time travel, and superpowers, it turns out there were intense moments off-screen too.
Apa said Sprouse’s direct intervention ultimately helped him take a hard look at the path he was on and start making healthier choices.
“I needed it,” Apa reflected, acknowledging how important it was to have someone close to him willing to step in during such a turbulent chapter of his life.