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Tag: sober milestones

  • Danny Trejo Celebrates 51 Years Sober

    Danny Trejo Celebrates 51 Years Sober

    “My life is just so beautiful since I took alcohol and drugs out of it,” Trejo said.

    Danny Trejo celebrated over a half-century sober this month. The actor posted a photo on social media of himself holding a cake with the caption, “Celebrating 51 years of being clean and sober with the guys.”

    The actor, who is promoting the new Rob Zombie film 3 From Hell, shared with Entertainment Tonight, “My life is just so beautiful since I took alcohol and drugs out of it.”

    He added, “God has blessed me with great friends, a great support system and great people around me. That’s what a person needs, a great support system.”

    First Encounter With Drugs

    Trejo, 75, has come a long way.

    His uncle introduced him to weed when he was eight years old. And from then on, he would use “whatever drugs were available,” he told Prison Legal News in 2011.

    “I thought that drugs were my answer,” he said in a 2015 AARP documentary. “As long as I stayed loaded, I’m okay. But life would turn into chaos.”

    Trejo spent more than a decade in various maximum-security California state prisons, making a name for himself as a boxing champ “in every institution I was in.”

    When he left prison for the final time, he dedicated himself to serving others and became a drug counselor, connecting with people in juvenile halls, prisons and more.

    His Big Break

    That’s when he got his big break. He found himself on the set of the film Runaway Train (1985) while responding to a call from a production assistant who needed support so he wouldn’t use drugs. While Trejo was on set, he was recruited by a former fellow inmate who recognized him to teach Eric Roberts how to box for the film. The director was so pleased with his work that he put him in the film as a boxer.

    “Everything good that has happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else,” said Trejo. “My passion is talking to young people… My message is, staying away from drugs and alcohol, and education is the key to anything you want to do.”

    Trejo was first introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous in 1959. “Once you know about it, it’s always there, it’s always an alternative,” he told Prison Legal News.

    A Long, Successful Career

    The iconic Hollywood “tough guy” has been in at least 124 films. And he’s managed to stay humble despite his impressive filmography. “I don’t think I am a big Hollywood star,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2016. “I won’t let myself. I can’t, because I’ve seen too many actors with the feeling of entitlement, and I want to slap the shit out of them.”

    Having been through so much in his life, Trejo learned the hard way, by being incarcerated, that substance abuse is not the answer.

    “I was an addict, an alcoholic, and I know that road,” he said in the AARP documentary. “That road leads to death, institutions or insanity.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Dax Shepard Speaks On 15 Years Of Sobriety: I'm On Fire To Be Alive

    Dax Shepard Speaks On 15 Years Of Sobriety: I'm On Fire To Be Alive

    Shepard says that being sober for so long has allowed him to recapture an energy and a joy for life that he hasn’t felt since he was a child.

    Dax Shepard of Punk’d and various comedy films including Hit and Run and CHiPs sat down with Talib Kweli on a recent episode of People’s Party and talked about his former cocaine use and how he feels after spending 15 years sober.

    After being asked about the subject by Kweli, Shepard began by crediting his sobriety to his current marriage to actress Kristen Bell and their two daughters.

    “I wouldn’t have a family without sobriety first and foremost,” he said. “Bell would’ve never signed up for the old version of me.”

    Beyond that, Shepard says that being sober for so long has allowed him to recapture an energy and a joy for life that he hasn’t felt since he was a child.

    “I just thought if I could ever get back to the point where when I walk out my door I’m thrilled to go on an adventure with nothing in me but oatmeal? That’s the goal, and I can honestly say for about the last seven years, I’m on fire to be alive.”

    In spite of his enthusiasm for sobriety, Shepard believes that everyone should try certain drugs at least once, if they can.

    “I don’t think anyone should leave planet Earth without doing mushrooms and ecstasy. I hope my children do mushrooms when they get older.”

    He stressed that he does not, however, want his children to do cocaine, as he feels that the intense stimulant “will make you not allowed to do all the other things.”

    Moderation & Marriage

    Shepard has expressed support for moderate drug use in the past, hitting back at a tweet from CBS’s The Talk that questioned Kristen Bell’s smoking cannabis around her sober husband. 

    “That would be like a diabetic expecting their partner to never eat dessert,” Shepard replied. “Get real!”

    Shepard first started using drugs in high school, though he maintains that he did not have a problem until after he turned 18. In 2012, he opened up to Us Weekly about his drug use in young adulthood, saying he took “cocaine, opiates, marijuana, diet pills, pain pills, everything,” along with drinking.

    “Mostly my love was Jack Daniel’s and cocaine,” Shepard said. “I lived for going down the rabbit hole of meeting weird people. Of course, come Monday I would be tallying up all the different situations, and each one was progressively more dangerous. I got lucky in that I didn’t go to jail.”

    After fighting frequently with Bell over his substance use, Shepard got sober in 2004 and has been going strong ever since.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ben Affleck, One Year Sober, Is “In A Great Place”

    Ben Affleck, One Year Sober, Is “In A Great Place”

    The Triple Frontier actor, who completed a 40-day stay in treatment for alcoholism last year, is doing well.

    Actor Ben Affleck is officially one year sober, after a long-time battle with alcoholism. After a successful 40-day stint at a treatment center, the actor-director is now healthy, happy and dedicating himself to his loved ones.

    “Ben is in a great place both in his recovery and life,” someone close to Affleck told People. “He continues to want to be the best father and friend he can be.”

    This is especially true for actress Jennifer Garner, Affleck’s ex-wife, and the three kids they had together: 13-year-old Violet, 10-year-old Seraphina, and 7-year-old Samuel.

    “He and Jen do amazingly well at co-parenting the children,” reveals People’s source. “They have shared a great summer with the kids doing outings, travels, etc. They have a very trusting and special relationship… Ben’s relationship with Jen is strong. She’s really supportive of Ben, and they work very closely on parenting their kids.”

    Self-Care

    The key to his happiness lies in being able to find time to take care of himself.

    “Ben has found balance between his work and home life,” told the source. “He remains committed to a number of treatment and wellness methods that focus on his health.”

    Affleck’s most recent leg of rehab became public knowledge when he was spotted in a car with Garner, who was driving him to a treatment center on August 22 of last year. It would be Affleck’s third time in.

    The actor went public about his struggles the following October in a post on Instagram.

    Going Public

    “This week I completed a forty-day stay at a treatment center for alcohol addiction and remain in outpatient care,” wrote Affleck in the post. “Battling any addiction is a lifelong and difficult struggle. Because of that, one is never really in or out of treatment. It is full-time commitment. I am fighting for myself and my family.”

    He spoke more about his struggles on Today earlier this year, speaking about how he lives with alcoholism but is determined to not let it define him.

    “It doesn’t have to subsume my whole identity and be everything but it is something that you have to work at,” he said.

    Now, he’s clear-minded and spending more time with his children.

    “He is really enjoying his summer with the family,” another source told People. “Ben was just doting over his kids.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Dylan McDermott Celebrates 35 Years Of Sobriety

    Dylan McDermott Celebrates 35 Years Of Sobriety

    The prolific actor took to Instagram to celebrate his sober milestone.

    Actor Dylan McDermott celebrated 35 years sober this week. In a heartfelt Instagram post (Aug. 19), the actor shouted out Alcoholics Anonymous and his adoptive mother, Tony award-winning playwright Eve Ensler, for helping him on his journey.

    “Today is my Sober Birthday. 35 years! Staying sober has been my greatest accomplishment. I say that because I was able to show up for myself in every way possible,” The Practice actor said in the caption accompanying a photo of himself. “In the most turbulent and best of times I had the rock of the 12 steps to guide me. I was able to be a father, son, brother and friend.”

    The Golden Globe winner, whose adoptive mother is Tony Award-winning playwright Eve Ensler, mentioned his birth parents in his post. “Proud of this day because many in my family including my birth mother and father struggled with addiction. It was brutal to witness. I’ve also seen many who didn’t make it and that truly breaks my heart.”

    Childhood Trauma

    In 2012, Today reported that the mystery surrounding McDermott’s mother’s 1967 death had been solved after authorities reopened the case.

    Five-year-old McDermott was outside the apartment when his mother, Diane, was shot dead by her boyfriend John Sponza.

    Sponza claimed at the time that Diane had died by suicide, but upon further investigation after McDermott later inquired about the case with Connecticut police, her death was ruled murder by Sponza.

    According to the Republican-American, McDermott explained to the police the reason he pursued his mother’s case. “In order for me to survive and to get where I am today, I needed to bury that moment in my life deep within myself,” police reported him as saying. “I’ve come to the point in my life where I’m able to begin to process all of this.”

    Recovery Journey

    The trauma of witnessing his mother’s death was no doubt part of McDermott’s healing journey.

    He concluded his Instagram post by giving credit to those who helped him along the way and encouraging treatment for those who need it.

    “If you’re hurting please get help,” he wrote. “The loving hand of #AlcoholicsAnonymous is always available! Without the guidance of my sponsor and @EveEnsler I would not be here today. I will be forever grateful to them!”

    “I look forward to many more years of sobriety, trudging the road of happy destiny…”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Kelly Osbourne Celebrates Sober Milestone: I'm Overwhelmed With Gratitude

    Kelly Osbourne Celebrates Sober Milestone: I'm Overwhelmed With Gratitude

    The singer posted a tribute on Instagram to all the people who have supported her in her sober journey.

    Kelly Osbourne celebrated two years sober in a post on Instagram on Friday. The 34-year-old singer and TV personality broke down exactly how long two years is in smaller units: 24 months, 731 days, or 17,529 hours. In her caption, she thanked everyone who stuck with her for those 63 million seconds.

    “I woke up this morning feeling overwhelmed with gratitude. I can’t even put into words how much my life has changed over the last 2 years,” she wrote. “To the friends and family that have supported me on this Journey thank you I love you all so much. If you are new to sobriety stick to it life really does get good.”

    Sober Journey

    The road to sobriety hasn’t been without its hiccups for Osbourne. Her IG post celebrates two years since her relapse in 2017. Last year, she posted on Instagram to celebrate one year sober and captioned it describing the struggles she faced in sobriety.

    “This past year has been one of the hardest years of my life and I feel it’s time [I] share that with you guys,” she posted. “To cut a long story short things got really dark. I gave up on everything in my life but most of all I gave up on myself. Life on life’s terms became too much for me to handle. The only way I knew how to function was to self-medicate and go from project to project so I never had to focus on what was really going on with me. Something had to give… and it did.”

    She also addressed why she had to disappear from the public eye for a time.

    “I have [spent] the past year truly working on my mind body and soul! I had to take a step out of the public eye away from work and give myself a chance to heal and figure out who the f— I really am without a camera in my face,” the singer revealed.

    Osbourne has long struggled with substance use. Her first encounter with drugs came when she was just 13 years old when she was prescribed liquid Vicodin after a medical procedure.

    Chasing Confidence 

    “I had my tonsils taken out, and they gave me liquid Vicodin,” she told People in 2009. “I found, when I take this, people like me. I’m having fun, I’m not getting picked on. It became a confidence thing.”

    Osbourne began to chase that confidence boost any way she could.

    “I have crazy anxiety. I was walking around with a constant sweat moustache,” she says. “So what’s the first thing you do? Go to a doctor. They give you Xanax, Klonopin, Valium. I’d start off taking them as prescribed. Then I’d be like, ‘These are magic pills! Take 10!’”

    After four rehab stints, six detox stays, and one stint at a mental institution, she finally pulled it together and made the choice to get sober.

    “For me, it was either I was going to die, or I was going to get help,” Osbourne said. “I decided that I wanted to live, that life is worth living and that I have an incredible family and friends and why am I allowing myself to be so miserable?”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Lena Dunham Celebrates Birthday With Recovery House Fundraiser

    Lena Dunham Celebrates Birthday With Recovery House Fundraiser

    Dunham also took to Instagram to urge her followers to donate toward an LA-based recovery home for women.

    Lena Dunham — who opened up this year about her struggles with addiction — hosted a birthday party fundraiser for The Friendly House, a recovery home for women struggling with substance use disorder.

    “Today, rather than presents, I’d love for you to donate to Friendly House, which is dedicated to helping women navigate the journey through addiction to recovery. It’s a journey I know first hand can only be attempted with love and support, which is why I have started a scholarship fund for women who are determined to recover but don’t have the financial means to begin,” Dunham wrote on Instagram.

    She continued, “It brings me such joy to think of how together we can directly affect so many women who have forgotten that they matter.”

    Dunham said that in the past she has shied away from celebrating her birthday, but after achieving one year of sobriety in April she was ready to be in the spotlight.

    “I may own a birthday bitch hat, but IRL I’m no big birthday bitch. For someone who loves both attention and presents, I’ve sure cancelled a lotta bday parties at the last minute,” she wrote. “I used to think there was something a bit unseemly about an adult leaning into their birthday, until I realized I was actually just jealous of the confidence and self-love it takes to say ‘it’s my day, people!’ I often felt I was making up for some original sin and that the nicest thing I could do for others on my birthday was make myself as unobtrusive as possible (it never worked and I usually either barfed or cried.)”

    She went on, “But this year is different. This year I’m… wait for it… happy. And so grateful for where I am, who I am, and everyone who has helped me on my journey to health & sobriety. 32 was good to me, and for 33 I wanted to say a big old thank you.”

    Dunham spoke about her addiction to anxiety medications on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert in November.

    “It stopped being, ‘I take one when I fly,’ and it started being like, ‘I take one when I’m awake,’” she said. She realized that her medications were no longer helping her, and that she had become dependent on them.

    “I still feel like my brain is recalibrating itself to experience anxiety,” she said at the time. “I just feel, literally, on my knees grateful every day.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Jack Osbourne Celebrates 16 Years Of Sobriety

    Jack Osbourne Celebrates 16 Years Of Sobriety

    The son of heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne took to Instagram to celebrate his sober milestone. 

    Jack Osbourne, son of legendary metal madman Ozzy Osbourne, and his sister Kelly, have been open about inheriting the struggle of addiction from the family genes. Now Jack has hit social media to celebrate 16 years of sobriety.

    On his Instagram, Osbourne posted the image of an overcast blue sky, with the following stats:

    Twelve Steps

    You’ve been sober for: 16.00 Years, 192.00 Months, 5,845 Days, 140,263 Hours.

    Osbourne, who also lives with MS, wrote, “By far this has not only the toughest year of my life, but also the toughest year of my recovery. I have learned so many things about myself. Some good, some not so good. But I continued to do it sober even in the face of legit pain and sadness.”

    Osbourne went through a divorce from Lisa Stelly, his wife of seven years, had to adjust to raising three young girls as a single dad, and had to be there “for my family when they have needed support at the post.” (Papa Ozzy recently had a bout with pneumonia and has canceled all concert appearances for the year.)

    Jack went to rehab at the age of 17 for an OxyContin addiction, and as he continued in his Instagram post, “If at 17 someone told me where I’d be at 33 with 16 years of continual sobriety, I would have laughed and told you to fuck off. Even though this last year of sobriety was filled with so much pain it all led to some fantastic personal growth.

    “I would love to tell you I managed this by being some kind of spiritual giant who roams the halls of recovery meetings, but it’s not the cast,” Osbourne continues. “I’m here writing this today sober because of the friends in my life who showed up for me when I needed support the most. I will be grateful for all you did.”

    Looking back on going in to rehab at 17, Osbourne told Blabbermouth, “I took myself out of the picture for a second and I looked around at every single person in the room, at who they were, how old they were and what they had going on in their lives. A lot of them were near 30, unemployed, living off their parents. They were heroin addicts, they were the world’s biggest couch potatoes. And it was like, ‘I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want my life to be controlled by a drug…I was really loaded and I just sat on my mom’s bed and said, ‘I am going to go pack my bags, I’m in, I’m ready to go. I want to go, I need to go.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Lena Dunham Celebrates Sober Milestone

    Lena Dunham Celebrates Sober Milestone

    The “Girls” creator took to Instagram to celebrate her first sober birthday.

    On April 10, Lena Dunham, the creator of the groundbreaking show Girls, marked a year sober in an Instagram post.

    Giving the thumbs up in her Instagram photo, Dunham told her three million followers, “Today I’m in the miraculous position of being one year sober. I’ve done a lot of cool things in this life, but none has brought me the peace, joy and lasting connections of being part of a sober fellowship.”

    “Life is full of problems,” she added, “but the cool thing about this one is that there is a solution: in ever city, in many countries, you can find a group of people who are working hard to live sober, accountable lives, and want to support you on your quest to do the same.”

    Dunham had previously taken the anti-anxiety medication Klonopin, and didn’t realize an addiction was creeping up on her. “I didn’t know I had an issue with drugs for a long time,” she writes, “because they were doctor prescribed, because I was outwardly successful and not a wild in da club party chick. But wouldn’t you say that hurting people you love is an issue? Wouldn’t you say feeling lost and lonely much of the time is an issue?”

    Dunham also realized that sobriety doesn’t solve all your problems. “Life is still challenging,” she continues. “That’s the nature of the game. But every day I am surprised by the richness and depth of, well, reality. I don’t need to escape this beautiful carnival. Instead, I’m on the ride.”

    Dunham ended her post by telling the world, “Please remember you are never too far gone, too broken or too unique. There are people in plain sight waiting to help you. Let’s do this.”

    Dunham had previously confessed her struggles with Klonopin on the Dax Shepard podcast “Armchair Expert” when she hit her six-month sober mark. “My particular passion was Klonopin,” she explained. She started taking the medication when she was battling severe anxiety, but then she was taking it more and more often.

    “It stopped being ‘I take one when I fly,’ to ‘I take one when I’m awake. I didn’t have any trouble getting a doctor to tell me, ‘No you have serious anxiety issues, you should be taking this. This is how you should be existing.’”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • "Teen Wolf" Star Colton Haynes Marks Sober Milestone

    "Teen Wolf" Star Colton Haynes Marks Sober Milestone

    “Teen Wolf” star Colton Haynes turned to substance abuse after falling on hard times but is now cleaning up his act.

    Colton Haynes has achieved six months sober after going on a week-long bender to help cope with his divorce as well as the death of his mother in the same year. Recently, he told Attitude Magazine about his sober journey, which included four months of rehab.

    Haynes’ week-long bender came after he divorced Jeff Leatham, his husband of less than one year, and his mother, Dana, dying of cirrhosis of the liver within 2018. However, his struggles with substance abuse began long beforehand, as early as 2016 when he came out as gay.

    “I came out, and in a way, my downward spiral started,” Haynes said. “I felt extremely free but at the same time the amount of attention I was getting was making me spin out of control.”

    But he really hit bottom in 2018.

    “At that point, I fell apart. My brain broke,” Haynes recalled. “I was doing a massive comedy for a studio, showed up to work and got fired on the first day. They said I looked as if I had ‘dead in my eyes’ and I did.”

    He continued to spiral into darkness.

    “I was drowning in my own s–t,” Haynes confessed.

    He hit his rock bottom during his week-long bender.

    “I locked myself in a hotel room at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills for seven days and was found in my room with these insane bruises all over my body,” he recounted. “It looked as if somebody had beaten the s–t out of me. I couldn’t walk, so I was falling everywhere. I almost ruptured my kidney, ended up in the hospital, ended up in 5150 psych hold. I was on such a destructive path that I could not function.”

    He ended up with partial vision loss in one eye and suffered two seizures, which inspired him to seek treatment.

    “I’m always going to be in recovery,” he said. “There are so many people struggling out there, but not a lot of them talk about it. Life is much more beautiful than I could have imagined.”

    In the past, Haynes has revealed his struggles with mental health in his published diary entries.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • John Mayer Talks Sobriety On "Ellen"

    John Mayer Talks Sobriety On "Ellen"

     “I completed my course in drinking. Thankfully, for me – I’m very lucky – I didn’t go all that deep. I just went, ‘You know, I think I’m done,’” Mayer said.

    Grammy-award winning singer/songwriter John Mayer recently marked two years alcohol-free and he opened up about it to Ellen on The Ellen Degeneres Show. 

    “I just finished,” Mayer explained to DeGeneres. “I completed my course in drinking. Thankfully, for me – I’m very lucky – I didn’t go all that deep. I just went, ‘You know, I think I’m done.’ It’s like Forest Gump running and he just stops running at some point. ‘I think I’m out.’ So I punched out.”

    Mayer also added that he stopped drinking after he had “a good, long talk” with himself.

    Mayer told Complex that the turning point was when he attended Drake’s 30th birthday, “and I made a fool of myself…I was in my sixth day of the hangover…I went, ‘Okay John, what percentage of your potential would you like to have. The voice in my head said, ‘OK. Do you know what that means?’ I went, ‘We don’t have to talk anymore. I get it.’”

    Once Mayer stopped drinking, his productivity went through the roof. “The next year, I did four tours, I was in two bands, I was happy on airplanes.” In 2017, Mayer publicly announced on social media, “I want people to know that ‘that’s enough for now’ is on the menu, so to speak.”

    Last year in Rolling Stone, Mayer revealed that he entered the “cannabis life,” and has also been pushing for the legalization of marijuana on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “I put [weed] where drinking used to go, and the quality of life has gone up considerably. Drinking is a f*****g con.”

     Mayer is also launching a foundation that will help vets dealing with PTSD. The Heart and Armor Foundation has been in the works since 2012.

    “We’re going to the public with things like published research papers and having raised enough money to really build some pilot programs,” Mayor said. “We have some really great data and we want it to be working first so that a lot of the questions were answered before we brought things to people by way of awareness.”

    View the original article at thefix.com