KJ Apa recalls Cole Sprouse giving him a 'wake-up punch' over drug use

KJ Apa has recalled how Cole Sprouse gave him a "wake-up punch" after he learned he was taking drugs.

During an appearance on the Wildmen podcast on Tuesday, the New Zealand-born actor spoke to Cole's twin brother, Dylan Sprouse, and his co-host, Brendan Columbus, about filming CW teen series Riverdale in Vancouver, Canada for seven seasons from 2017 to 2023.

While KJ and Cole remain great friends, Dylan recounted how they once got into a heated argument during a night out.

"(Cole) punched you, then you ran away," he shared. "Also, I looked at my brother after that, and I was like, 'Dude, you could have just died.' I made the mistake of trying to chase after (KJ). I was like, 'Oh, dude, I'm going to get him.' You were three blocks away by the time I was like just getting my bearings. I called you. I was like, 'My God.' You might still have the voicemail."

KJ then described exactly what led to the pair getting into "fisticuffs".

"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," the 29-year-old remembered. "And he had learned that I was doing drugs again... It was a love punch."

Dylan labelled the fight to be "kind of a wake-up punch," to which KJ agreed, adding: "Yeah. No, it was a wake-up punch."

Elsewhere in the conversation, Dylan praised KJ for keeping an eye on Cole while they were filming Riverdale.

"I'm glad you guys had an interaction, which then I immediately knew as a brother, I was like, 'OK, he's safe. He has at least someone who's like of a similar mentality to him, the similar kind of person,'" he smiled.

Previously, KJ revealed that becoming a father helped him get sober.

The Jimmy star shares son Sasha, four, with his ex-partner, Clara Berry.