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Tag: orange is the new black

  • 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

  • Mackenzie Phillips Talks Addiction & "Orange Is The New Black" Role

    Mackenzie Phillips Talks Addiction & "Orange Is The New Black" Role

    “It was like, ‘Wow, I used to live this way.’ And now I get to act it out, and then walk away free and recovered. That in itself is magical.”

    Actress-turned-recovery counselor Mackenzie Phillips plays Barb, one of the “Little Debbie Murderers” on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.

    The One Day at a Time star, who beat drug abuse in the limelight and is now owner and director of Breathe Life Healing Centers in Los Angeles, said it was an “exciting challenge” to play Barb, who is “dying with untreated mental-health and substance-use issues.”

    “When I found out that [the character] was someone that struggles with a serious using problem, I was even more excited about it,” Phillips told People.

    Phillips has been in and out of rehab “more than several” times, and appeared on Celebrity Rehab in 2010. She’s now using her experience to help others.

    “I wanted to be on the forefront of this fight. I want to break the stigma. I want to be a part of hopeful healing,” she told The Fix in a 2016 interview. “I am enthusiastic and I am passionate about doing what I do today.”

    Phillips is grateful that she had access to treatment for her drug use—she acknowledged that many people, like her character Barb, do not. “I’ve had access to the best behavioral health care for my own addiction over the years. But someone who’s in prison or someone who doesn’t have the resources or the good insurance that I have, doesn’t have the opportunity,” she told People.

    A comprehensive treatment program is important to sustaining one’s recovery, she added. “So when you just take the substance out of the picture, all the behaviors are still in place and the only thing missing is the drug of choice. So real recovery comes through other channels, rather than just stopping using.”

    Phillips’ extensive experience with drug use came in handy on set. She described one instance where she had to revise a scene that didn’t ring true: “Being the expert drug snorter, I was like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not the way she should do it. Let’s cut the straw at an angle,’” she told Vanity Fair. “It was weird. It was like, ‘Wow, I used to live this way.’ And now I get to act it out, and then walk away free and recovered. That in itself is magical.”

    View the original article at thefix.com