Answer Addiction

Tag: celebs & sobriety

  • Demi Lovato’s Mom Says Singer Is 90 Days Sober

    Demi Lovato’s Mom Says Singer Is 90 Days Sober

    Lovato’s mother, Dianna De La Garza, discussed the singer’s early recovery in a recent interview.

    Demi Lovato has been very open with the public about her struggles with sobriety and mental health, and on July 24, she raised serious concern among her fans when she was taken to the hospital for a suspected overdose.

    Now, Lovato’s mother, Dianna De La Garza, has announced that her daughter has been sober for 90 days.

    As De La Garza said on Maria Menounos’ Sirius XM show, “She has 90 days. I couldn’t be more thankful or more proud of her because addiction being a disease, it’s work. It’s very hard. It’s not easy, and there are no shortcuts.”

    Menounos asked De La Garza if she knew what triggered her daughter’s relapse. She said, “I can’t really say for sure. I really don’t know. It can be any number of reasons.”

    Before her overdose, Lovato released the single “Sober” in June, where she apologized for falling off the wagon. De La Garza admitted, “I knew that she wasn’t sober. I didn’t know what she was doing because she doesn’t live with me and she’s 26.”

    De La Garza found out about her daughter’s overdose when she received a text that said, “I just saw on TMZ and I’m sorry.”

    “Before I could get to TMZ, I got the phone call from her assistant and she said, ‘We’re at the hospital.’ So then I knew, OK, she’s not gone. She’s here. And I said, ‘What’s going on?’ And the words that I heard are just a nightmare for any parent: ‘Demi overdosed.’”

    When she got a call from her daughter’s assistant confirming the news, “I said, ‘Is she okay?’ And she stopped for a second and said, ‘She’s conscious, but she’s not talking.’ I knew at that point that we were in trouble,” De La Garza told Newsmax TV.

    On August 5, 12 days after her overdose, Lovato released a statement on Instagram telling the public:

    “I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction. What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet… I now need time to heal and focus on my sobriety and road to recovery. The love you have all shown me will never be forgotten and I look forward to the day where I can say that I came out on the other side. I will keep fighting.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Boy George On Sobriety: I’m A Work In Progress

    Boy George On Sobriety: I’m A Work In Progress

     “I think that you never really get there, but you definitely get better at being alone and observing yourself.”

    Singer Boy George is soon releasing a new album with Culture Club for the first time in two decades, but he might not have made it this far if he were still focused on the drugs, he says.

    The singer and style icon (born George Alan O’Dowd) recounted the positive impact that sobriety has had on his life in an interview with USA Today.

    “You have more time. Your life is not centered around one obsession. But it takes time. I’ve always regarded myself as a work in progress,” he said. “I think that you never really get there, but you definitely get better at being alone and observing yourself.”

    The singer has had a long, public battle with drugs and has lost several friends and colleagues over the years to drug overdoses. Reflecting on what inspired him to try and get sober, the singer spoke frankly.

    “I think it’s all quite well-documented. Some of it’s true, some of it’s not. When you’re in the eye of the storm, you don’t see a way out of it. For me, it was really just a series of events that led me to an AA meeting,” he recounted. “As much as I didn’t want to be there, I also knew that’s where I needed to be. So you could call it a point of realization.”

    He also says that there was no one dramatic moment in which he suddenly realized he needed to turn his life around, but rather a spark of realization that he needed to get better.

    “So many bad things happen to people when they’re in throes of addiction and it’s almost impossible to say what is the ‘rock bottom’ that makes you stop. Sometimes it’s just a chance encounter or a moment of clarity,” he said. “For me, I was just brought to a place where I was able to stop and go, ‘OK, this is not my life. This is not what I want to be or where I want to go.’”

    When asked how he felt about the new generation of LGBTQ artists who haven’t felt the need to hide themselves, he answered that he was glad that they could come out to a world more accepting of them.

    “It’s interesting. Without people like me, (David) Bowie, Oscar Wilde, and whoever came before taking the kinds of risk that we took however we took them, maybe there wouldn’t be a situation where you didn’t have to think about your sexuality—that you can just factor it into what you do. I suppose, in a way, that’s what I always wanted,” Boy George answered.

    “So I guess the answer would be I’m delighted for those people, because I’ve always wanted to live in a world where your sexuality, your race and your age weren’t important.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Joe Walsh, Ringo Starr Take Stage At Recovery Gala

    Joe Walsh, Ringo Starr Take Stage At Recovery Gala

    “My higher power became vodka and cocaine. Nobody wanted to work with me…I turned into this godless, hateful thing,” Walsh said in his speech.

    Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh and his wife Marjorie were honored this month for their work in advancing the cause of addiction recovery.

    The rock ’n’ roll couple, whose recovery advocacy spans more than 20 years, were presented with the Adele C. Smithers Humanitarian Award by friend and former Beatle Ringo Starr at the 74th annual gala for Facing Addiction with NCADD on Oct. 8.

    “I was one of those really nice pass out/black-out drunks,” Ringo Starr said before presenting the award, next to his wife Barbara Bach Starkey. “I came to one night, out of a black-out the next day, and I’d done a lot of damage. I was about to lose the love of my life, Barbara, and everything else.” That’s when Starr finally got help.

    While receiving the award, Marjorie Bach Walsh, who is Barbara’s sister, addressed her own recovery. “My son who is here this evening, and who does incredible work for addiction, had suffered for a long time before this woman got sober. And for that, Christian, I am beyond sorry. My life is a living amends to you,” she said.

    Joe Walsh has been sober for 25 years. As a kid growing up in the 1950s, he felt different, and thus isolated, from other children. “In my late teenage years I tried to play guitar in front of some people and I couldn’t do it. I hyperventilated. I started shaking. I started crying.”

    But after a “couple of beers” he was able to play. “That planted the seed. I thought alcohol was a winner.” This gave him the courage to make music, and early on he attributed his success to alcohol.

    “My higher power became vodka and cocaine.” But his substance use reached a tipping point. “I burned all the bridges. Nobody wanted to work with me. I was angry… I turned into this godless, hateful thing.”

    He turned to Alcoholics Anonymous, where he met some old-timers. “Gradually they showed me that I’m not a unique individual, one-of-a-kind person. I’m just an alcoholic, and for the first time in my life I felt like I was somewhere where I belonged.”

    “I don’t know why I’m alive. I should not be alive. I hadn’t planned on living this long, I don’t know what to do,” Walsh said to laughter.

    “I decided to drop my anonymity because most of the world knew I was a mess anyway, and go public, and speak out and try and help other alcoholics because that’s what we do.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Jamie Lee Curtis: Sobriety Changed Everything

    Jamie Lee Curtis: Sobriety Changed Everything

    The “Halloween” actress revealed in an interview that she would not be where she is now without sobriety.

    Now coming up on her 60th birthday, movie star Jamie Lee Curtis is focused on her legacy.

    “I want to die having said something,” she told USA Today.

    Curtis stars in the newest Halloween film, re-assuming her debut role as Laurie Strode to once again face the masked murderer Michael Myers. Between that first starring role and this most recent redux, Curtis has played a wide range of characters in a variety of genres. But the road was not always easy, and it was during these times that Curtis used alcohol and opioids to deal with the stress. She recalls the summer of 1987, trying to balance work and family while shooting A Fish Called Wanda.

    “My memory of A Fish Called Wanda is that I cried every day to and from work. Not that I laughed, not that it was super-fun, nothing,” she said. “My memory of A Fish Called Wanda was leaving my sleeping 6-month-old daughter, going to work an hour away and then working 12 hours, sometimes more, and then an hour back, often to a child asleep again. And that was like the beginning of it all for me.”

    Looking back, Curtis realized she was forgetting to take care of herself.

    “I think I was replicating my mom and really trying to just make everybody happy,” she reflected.

    Curtis has been candid about her former addiction and her sobriety, now going on two decades. Of all the things she’s accomplished, Curtis once said she considers getting sober her number one accomplishment.

    “As soon as I got sober, which is 20 years coming up in February, everything changed,” she said. “Because it was a big, big acknowledgment that I could not do all of the things I was trying to do.”

    The secret, Curtis suggested, was in prioritizing what really matters.

    “All I hear is the grading, the rank ordering in my industry. A-list. A-listers. I’m in B-movies. That’s how I’ve buttered my bread. And horror movies are like at the bottom end of the scale,” she said, referring to her legacy as a horror film scream queen. “…And yet I have navigated 40 years. I sold yogurt that made you poop for five years because it was a gig that allowed me to stay home and be a mom the way I needed to be a mom.”

    The newest Halloween, starring Curtis, Judy Greer and Andi Matichak, arrived in theaters on October 19.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Jason Biggs Celebrates One Year Of Sobriety

    Jason Biggs Celebrates One Year Of Sobriety

    The movie star posted a photo on social media to celebrate his one-year sober milestone.

    Jason Biggs posted a photo of his one-year sober coin on Instagram to celebrate his newfound freedom from alcohol addiction. The milestone marks the Orange is the New Black star’s second attempt to get sober.

    “I first tried to get sober over 5 years ago, when the weight of my obsession with booze and drugs became too heavy for me to handle,” he wrote on the post.

    Biggs acknowledged that it’s been a struggle to keep on his path, but he is proud of the progress he’s made.

    “Turns out this shit is hard. After some fits and starts, I’ve managed to put together one year of sobriety,” he posted. “I’m as proud of it as anything in my life.”

    He also had a message for those out there who might know they need help but for some reason feel avoidant of actually getting it.

    “If you’re struggling, know there’s help. Don’t be ashamed. We can do this,” Biggs wrote.

    His wife, actress Jenny Mollen, also took to Instagram to celebrate Biggs’ achievement and posted a picture of Biggs kissing her cheek.

    “So proud of my husband today. Congrats baby. I know how hard you work,” she wrote in the caption. “I see you. I love you.”

    The couple has been married for 10 years and have two children between them, four-year-old Sid and one-year-old Lazlo. In an interview with PEOPLE Now, Mollen read a fill-in-the-blank card to her husband, Biggs:

    “‘At this point in our marriage, the sexiest thing she can do for me is…’” she started.

    “Oh, take the kids and leave for a couple hours,” Biggs quipped.

    Biggs’ big public reveal of his recovery is part of a tidal wave of celebrities and famous figures opening up on addiction and their struggles with mental health. Demi Lovato, Lady Gaga, and Ben Affleck are just a few examples over the past year, sharing their personal experiences with mental health or addiction to fight stigma and encourage those who need help to seek it. Their message is more important than ever as the opioid crisis becomes more and more prominent.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Trump Says Sobriety Is One Of His "Few Good Traits"

    Trump Says Sobriety Is One Of His "Few Good Traits"

    The president went on to say that he would “be the world’s worst” if he drank. 

    President Trump told reporters on Monday that his sobriety was one of his “few good traits.”

    “I’m not a drinker. I can honestly say I’ve not had a beer in my life. That’s one of my only good traits. I don’t drink,” Trump said, according to ABC News. “I’ve never had alcohol, you know, for whatever reason. Can you imagine if I had what a mess I’d be?”

    The president went on to say that he would “be the world’s worst” if he drank. 

    Alcohol came up during the press conference in relation to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh who has been in the spotlight for an alleged sexual assault that reportedly took place when he was drunk. During a congressional hearing he was open about the fact that he enjoys alcohol. “Yes, we drank beer. My friends and I, the boys and girls. Yes, we drank beer. I liked beer. Still like beer. We drank beer,” Kavanaugh testified.

    “I was surprised at how vocal he was about the fact that he likes beer,” Trump said. “He’s had a little bit of difficulty. I mean, he talked about things that happened when he drank. This is not a man that said alcohol was absent.”

    On Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel picked up the comments on his late night talk show, saying it was alarming that anything about the potential Supreme Court Justice would surprise the president who is trying to appoint him. 

    “After the Kavanaugh hearing last week, it was really hard to enjoy a beer this weekend,” Kimmel said. “Imagine being so off the rails, you even surprised Donald Trump with something.”

    “By the way, I feel like it’s worth mentioning that this guy who has never had a drink in his life once had his own brand of vodka with his name on it,” Kimmel pointed out. “That’s kind of all you need to know about him.”

    Trump’s brother died from complications of alcoholism at the age of 42, which is part of the reason why Trump doesn’t imbibe, the president has said in the past. 

    “He was a great guy, a handsome person. He was the life of the party. He was a fantastic guy, but he got stuck on alcohol,” Trump told People in 2015. “And it had a profound impact and ultimately [he] became an alcoholic and died of alcoholism.”

    After seeing his brother’s struggle, Trump decided to stay away from booze. 

    “I’ve known so many people that were so strong and so powerful [yet] they were unable to stop drinking,” he said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Steve-O Celebrates A Decade Of Sobriety In A Unique Way

    Steve-O Celebrates A Decade Of Sobriety In A Unique Way

    “I really can’t believe how far I’ve come on this journey of life,” the reality star tweeted.

    Steve-O celebrated his 10-year sober milestone by competing in his first triathlon.

    As Runner’s World reports, the Jackass alum participated in the 32nd annual Nautica Malibu Triathlon, which raises money for children’s cancer research. Alongside other stars like Joel McHale, Steve Howe and Jon Cryer, Steve-O (born Stephen Glover) did a half-mile swim, a four-mile beach run, and a 17-mile bike ride.

    Steve-O’s enthusiasm for the event was off the charts. “I really can’t believe how far I’ve come on this journey of life… I just got tenth place in my division at my first ever triathlon! Woohoo!!! (Full disclosure – my division was ‘men’s celebrity,’ but there were tons of celebrities, so I’m stoked!)” he tweeted after the race.

    Before getting sober years ago, Steve-O’s drugs of choice included cocaine, alcohol, ketamine, PCP and nitrous oxide.

    Earlier this year, Steve-O tweeted about his sobriety on the date his friends had him committed:

    “Hard to believe it’s been an entire decade since I’ve had a drink or a drug. I just can’t put into words how grateful I am for [Jackass star Johnny Knoxville] and the rest of the guys who locked me up in a psychiatric ward on March 9, 2008, where this journey began. Thank you, dudes, I love you.”

    Before he was committed, Steve-O sent out an alarming e-mail saying, “I’m ready to f—ing die.” He was then put on a 5150 hold on March 9, and later transferred to rehab. He vowed, “You can count on my staying nuts; it’s just the alcohol and drugs I’m trying to leave behind.”

    In his goodbye letter to drugs, he confessed, “It became frighteningly clear to me how lucky I am to still have any chance whatsoever at leading a happy, fulfilling and meaningful life. My luck will not last with continued use of alcohol and drugs that are not prescribed to me by doctors that are aware of my addictions.”

    In getting sober, Steve-O has embraced a much healthier lifestyle. He’s now a vegan, and on a mission to have his healthiest year in 2018.

    In a recent Instagram post, he wrote, “For my birthday this year, I decided to get in the best shape I’ve ever been in. I may be old, but I’m healthy as fuck!” 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Demi Lovato’s Sister Says She’s Working Hard At Sobriety

    Demi Lovato’s Sister Says She’s Working Hard At Sobriety

    “We’ve been through a lot together and every single time…we always come out on the other side a 100 times stronger than before.”

    Demi Lovato’s 16-year-old sister said that the star is working hard at her sobriety, 60 days after the singer reportedly started treatment. 

    “She’s working really hard on her sobriety and we’re all so incredibly proud of her,” Madison De La Garza said, according to E! News. De La Garza was being interviewed as part of the promotions for her new movie, Subject 16. During the conversation, she talked about how difficult Lovato’s July overdose was for her family. 

    “It’s been crazy for our family,” she said. “It’s been a lot.”

    De La Garza said that the family is focusing on the positive. 

    “We’ve been through a lot together, and every single time—I mean if you read my mom’s book, you would know—every time we go through something, we always come out on the other side a hundred times stronger than before,” De La Garza said. “So, we’ve just been so thankful for everything—for the little things.”

    De La Garza said that she wants to do “so many little things” with her sister once Lovato leave treatment — including getting frozen yogurt. 

    “It sounds so small, but [I want to] go to Menchie’s,” she said. “Honestly, I’m more of a Pinkberry person, but she likes Menchie’s, and so we usually go there.”

    Lovato is at an undisclosed facility. In early August she released a statement on Instagram, saying, “What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet.”

    She told fans that she would be off the radar while she focuses on recovery. 

    “I now need time to heal and focus on my sobriety and road to recovery,” she wrote. “The love you have all shown me will never be forgotten and I look forward to the day where I can say I came out on the other side. I will keep fighting.”

    Although Lovato has not made any public statements since then, her family members say that she is doing the necessary work to live sober. 

    “I can honestly say today that she is doing really well,” Lovato’s mother, Dianna De La Garza, said in September. “She’s happy, she’s healthy, she’s working on her sobriety, and she’s getting the help she needs.”

    De La Garza added that Lovato’s overdose came as a shock, but that the family’s faith helped them cope. 

    “We just didn’t know for two days if she was going to make it or not,” she said. “I just feel like the reason she is alive today is because of the millions and millions of prayers that went up every day.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Martin Sheen On Sobriety, Supporting Charlie Sheen

    Martin Sheen On Sobriety, Supporting Charlie Sheen

    “I think all of us are striving to lead honest lives. That’s a requirement of every human being.”

    Actor Martin Sheen addressed the many challenges experienced by his son, Charlie Sheen, at a charity event in Los Angeles on September 24.

    The 78-year-old actor, who currently appears in the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, folded his son’s experiences with alcohol, drugs and his very public meltdown into statements about selflessness, family unity and the importance of finding a means of giving back to the world at large at an benefit for the nonprofit The People Concern by LA Chefs for Human Rights.

    Sheen, who was being awarded with LA Chefs’ Human Rights Hero Award for his work with the homeless in Los Angeles, said that he was proud of his son’s efforts to follow a healthier path and admit to his past discretions. “I think all of us are striving to lead honest lives,” said Sheen. “That’s a requirement of every human being.”

    Sheen, who also battled alcoholism, said that charity and helping others can also be beneficial to one’s own problems. “The best way to heal is to help healing someone else, and it takes one to know one, so you can appreciate what someone’s going through if you’ve gone there yourself,” he noted.

    In an interview with AARP Magazine, Sheen said that upon getting sober through his Catholic faith, he turned to Alcoholics Anonymous to gain perspective on how to help Charlie with his dependency issues, which ultimately entailed him turning over his son to authorities for probation violation in 1998 as a last-ditch attempt to get him into rehabilitation.

    Martin Sheen admitted that bringing his son to help felt, at times, almost insurmountable. “What he was going through, we were powerless to do much, except to pray for him and lift him up,” he told Radio Times in 2015. Being in the glare of the celebrity spotlight also posed its own set of unique roadblocks. “The ego, the cover, the availability of stuff – it’s bread for destruction, the celebrity’s life,” he explained.

    To counter the siren call of the dangerous side of fame, Sheen said that giving over one’s most precious commodities – time and ability – can become an oasis.

    “When you come to understanding that the only thing you can ever possess is the thing that you cherish, and you give away with love, including your precious time and talent,” he explained. “That’s why volunteering is so important, because that’s the only thing we can take with us when the job is over. The only things you can take with you are the things which you cherish and gave away with love.”

    Sheen expressed pride and gratitude in Charlie’s latest attempt to live a clean and sober life. “The bigger your celebrity, the more difficult it is to lead an honest life, because your past is always present,” said the elder Sheen. “I think today makes it that much harder for people because there’s no privacy. I think that the idea of anonymity is very important to the [recovery] program, and it has an energy all its own.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Jenna Jameson Celebrates Three Years of Sobriety

    Jenna Jameson Celebrates Three Years of Sobriety

    “Today is an important day for me in my recovery. 3 years. I can’t begin to explain what sobriety has brought to my life. But I will try.”

    Former adult film star Jenna Jameson took to Instagram this week to celebrate three years of living sober.  

    “Today is an important day for me in my recovery. 3 years. I can’t begin to explain what sobriety has brought to my life. But I will try,” Jameson wrote in an Instagram post. “Yes, I’m not the intensely self centered ‘the world owes me something’ woman anymore. I am now the ‘What can I do for the world’ woman.”

    Jameson hasn’t spoken extensively about her addiction, but there are reports that she was abusing alcohol and prescription pills. Her post was tagged #aa and #na, and she has suggested that she used 12-step fellowships to help her stay sober. Along the way, the 44-year-old said that she discovered new things about herself. 

    “Sobriety has taught me a lot about myself, my coping mechanisms that I ignored came bubbling to the surface quickly after getting sober,” she wrote. “That scared me. Everything I knew was wrong. Everything I believed in was hurting me, not helping. Meetings and leaning on my Sober friends… made things bearable the first year. I was surviving. Sober. It was shocking at first, but now it’s my new normal.”

    Now, she recognizes that her substance abuse was an attempt to fill a void. “I think back to the way I used to run… run as far and as fast as I could, and I pray to God I never feel that emptiness again,” she wrote.

    In April 2017, Jameson gave birth to a daughter and struggled afterward with her weight. Now, she has dropped from 187 pounds to 130, a journey she has celebrated on social media.

    “My weightloss has solidified my toughness and strength,” she wrote. “I know I am capable of beautiful things and these are the qualities I want to teach my daughter. No matter what life throws at you, you can overcome and flourish. 3 years. 3 whole years. I am grateful. Just for today.”

    Previously, Jameson worried that she couldn’t maintain weight loss while sober. 

    “I was worried I couldn’t lose the weight sober,” she wrote earlier this year. “I’m being real with you. When I was in my addiction it was easy to stay thin. Sobriety and being overweight was new to me. I kept telling myself if I could beat addiction and stay sober, I can easily lose the weight… and I did. The healthy way.” 

    Both weight loss and recovery have shown her how to tap into her inner strength, she said. 

    “And as of today I can say my mental game is STRONG,” she wrote on Instagram. “I feel I can do anything, I conquered abuse, addiction, PTSD and depression.” 

    View the original article at thefix.com