Actor Channing Tatum graces the cover of GQ magazine’s June issue. The Magic Mike star also sat down with writer Chris Heath for a compelling, in-depth interview.

Tatum, 34, has skyrocketed to success after working a year straight, acting in four films back-to-back — a rarity in Hollywood.

In the revealing article, Tatum talks about how he both relaxes and lets loose, his experience stripping at 19 years old, and his imaginary friend from childhood, Boy.

During one of the article’s many candid moments, Tatum tells Heath, “I probably drink too much, you know.”

“I’m probably a pretty high-functioning, I guess, you know, I would say, alcoholic, I guess,” adds Tatum, reluctantly.

For the actor, alcohol works as both a depressant and stimulant.

“There’s probably a tendency to escape. I equate it to creativity, and I definitely equate it to having a good time.”

And yet, notes Heath, Tatum plans to not drink for the four-month duration of his next project, the sequel to Magic Mike — a movie in which many of the “juiciest” scenes have been cut. Like the first, the sequel is based on events from the actor’s stripping past.

In particular, the second installment centers around Tatum’s experience attending massive stripper conventions. For such conventions, several dancers would strip on stage for thousands of women.

Tatum recounts one convention in Raleigh, North Carolina in which “the women would come from miles and miles around.”

“Then you lock the doors and you say all bets are off,” explains the actor. “It gets zany and crazy, and it’s a wild ride. It’s an incubator for insanity. It doesn’t matter almost what you do onstage. I don’t want to put anything in black and white on a page, but if you’ve been to one, you know how crazy it gets, and now pour kerosene on that. You’ve seen Magic Mike—now multiply that. Mob mentality. It’s just exponentially crazier. I thought it was absolutely insane.”

Their conversation also touches on Tatum’s childhood with his imaginary friend.

“‘Don’t sit here—Boy’s sitting here!'” says Tatum, about saving Boy a spot at the table. “I would make a plate for him and all that. Crazy behavior. I think I just lived in an imaginary world. I was always playing war in the woods, people are chasing me… I wasn’t doing it because I was desperate for friends. I had friends.”

Tatum continues his hectic work schedule throughout 2014 as well. Since voicing a role in The Lego Movie, he’ll star in Foxcatcher, 22 Jump Street, Jupiter Ascending  and The Book of Life — all of which come out this year.