New York, NY (WFN) -- Now it can be told: Actor Dan Hedaya admits he once suffered from a shocking ailment: "Nixon-itis."

Hedaya -- best known as Carla's hairy ex-hubby on the sitcom, "Cheers" -- played President Richard Nixon in the 1999 comedy, "Dick" and, sadly, the role stuck with him longer than he wanted.

In fact, Hedaya confesses that for months after making the film, he would "unintentionally" imitate Nixon -- even when he was filming scenes as other characters.

For instance, on the set of Samuel Jackson's "Shaft" remake, Hedaya ruined take after take saying things like "Let me make this perfectly clear" and "Sock it to me."

Things got so bad that Hedaya's friends started complaining and he came close to losing some of them.

Now he's in recovery and Hedaya admits that while he found imitating Nixon addicting, he has never had any sympathy for him.

Hedaya stars in "Lucky," the new John Corbett drama debuting April 8 on the FX network.

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