Jennifer Westfeldt has long been Mad Men star Jon Hamm’s girlfriend. What many likely didn’t know, however, is that she has long kept the actor in line as well.

A source recently told People magazine how Jennifer Westfeldt has brought him much stability.

“He needs [Jennifer],” the source explained. “He has to have that in his life.”

Westfeldt recently weighed in during a GQ interview about Jon Hamm with regard to the price a character like Don Draper has cost the actor.

“It’s a confusing juxtaposition,” Jennifer Westfeldt said. “I think the darkness of Don has weighed heavily on Jon, despite it being the role of a lifetime and the opportunity that gave him the career of his dreams.”

Inside Jon Hamm's private struggle http://t.co/sfTPAXxuJg pic.twitter.com/YwMcxbBH1m

— People magazine (@people) March 25, 2015

Jon Hamm, as most people know by now, sought treatment last month for alcoholism. His issues can’t all be blamed on Don Draper, however, and no doubt include losing his mom at the age of ten and his estranged father when he was just 20. And although people survive far worse than what Jon Hamm has experienced in his lifetime, some succumb more easily to the lure of drugs or drink than others.

Annett Wolf is Hamm’s publicist. She issued a statement earlier this week explaining the actor’s rehab stint, and saying that Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt have asked “for privacy and sensitivity going forward.”

Do you suppose watching his character drink so frequently prompted Jon Hamm to tip the bottle more often than he would have had he not played the Mad Men role?

Hamm has definitely been blessed with the presence of Jennifer Westfeldt in his life. Without someone to keep him in line, who knows how much farther down the road of despair he might have traveled?