Actor Robin Williams said on Thursday that he had not drunk alcohol for 10 months since announcing publicly that he was entering treatment for alcohol abuse.

In August his spokeswoman said he had "found himself drinking again" after two decades of sobriety. "Ten months," he told reporters on arrival to San Francisco International Film Festival where he won an acting award. "I had 20 years before that."

"It's nice to know there are others out there, including the mayor," he said, referring to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who recently said he was seeking similar treatment.

"Honesty is the best thing and he did it great in dealing with it," said Williams, star of films like "Good Will Hunting" and "Mrs. Doubtfire."

"That's the hardest thing of all, admitting 'I have a problem."'

Williams, who once joked about his heavy drinking in his comedy routines, made some references to his latest struggle upon receiving San Francisco Film Society's Peter Owens award for acting "brilliance, independence and integrity."

"It's a great honor to be honored by a festival sponsored by a vodka company," he joked at a black-tie dinner in a San Francisco hotel. "Just out of rehab, it always good to go right to a place with a bottle of Skyy on every table."