Author: John Carter

14 Celebrities in Recovery: Famous Faces Whove Battled Addiction

He was the first non-Bengali who was given consent by Rabindranath Tagore to sing the latter’s songs. Right IconThis ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet. Hemingway’s love affair with booze started as a young fifteen-year-old reporter in Kansas City and was kicked into overdrive when he went to Europe during World War One. During the war, after refusing to leave London, she held court at Buckingham Palace, raiding the wine cellars and ensuring everyone maintained their high spirits.

1. Drinking has, apparently, gotten in the way of his career and personal relationships.
2. “Hurting myself and those around me who I loved the most. It got so bad that eventually I ended up in a hospital for mental health. I am now 7 1/2 years clean and sober.”
3. Co-founder and lead singer of the Doors.
4. A bastion of old English reserve and beloved matriarch of the Royal Family, the Queen Mother was known to start the day with a cocktail at noon and end with two glasses of Veuve Cliquot at dinner.
5. “Being in recovery has given me everything of value that I have in my life,” Lowe said when accepting the award.

“Sobriety allows me to grieve fully, and grief is an expression of love.” Delaney lost his two-year-old son Henry in 2018 and credited his sobriety with helping him experience grief. Her husband didn’t even know until she went to her first recovery meeting in 1999.

Josh Brolin celebrated eight years of sobriety in 2021.

Alcohol addiction is a complex disease that has affected the lives of many famous people for various reasons. Some find the pressure of being in the spotlight too much, turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism. Many grew up as child actors and felt unprepared for stardom which led them to develop mental health conditions later in life.

But what we can learn from these experiences is that recovery is possible. Dylan Thomas achieved tremendous popularity during his lifetime and remains popular after his untimely death at the age of 39. Mealtimes are often an excuse for the high-functioning alcoholic to start drinking. They may even forego food altogether. Our traditional mental image of an alcoholic is of someone who simply cannot keep their life together. The alcohol is interfering with their family, their friendships, their job, and their health.

Matthew Perry struggled with addiction to alcohol and Vicodin.

In his memoir, the “Friends” star revealed that his recovery journey included 6,000 AA meetings, at least 15 stints in rehab, and dozens of detoxes. Tim McGraw quit drinking in 2008 when his family and friends began to worry about him. “It doesn’t matter what walk of life — addiction and alcoholism doesn’t discriminate,” she said at the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in 2017. Brand went on “Megyn Kelly Today” to discuss his recovery in 2017. He suffered from an addiction to heroin and alcoholism. In a 2017 interview with GQ, the actor talked about quitting drinking.

Alexander the Great was a legendary Ancient Greek general who is considered one of the greatest military commanders of all time. As his power grew, though, so did his sense of paranoia and megalomania. He considered himself to be a god, and had increasingly erratic behavior that led him to murder a close friend. Some historians attribute this behavior to alcoholism, which contributed to his untimely demise at age 32. These celebrities illustrate that alcohol is often used to self-medicate — to alleviate life’s stressors. Their honesty about their struggles are both heartbreaking and endearing.

He told Esquire it was his “first port of call.” In 2003, the actor opened up to Playboy about being a recovering alcoholic. Gerard Butler spoke to Men’s Journal in 2012 about being 15 years sober then. He said he went to rehab before he could reach full-blown pill addiction.

After having a “very boozy December,” the British actor chose to participate in Dry January. During that time, Holland found that he kept thinking about drinking, “and it just really scared me,” to the point that he realized he has a dependency. Bradley Cooper told GQ in 2013 that he got sober because he realized that “if I continued it, I was really going to sabotage my whole life.”

“Sixteen years ago … I crashed and washed ashore on the banks of sobriety,” he said. “Job one is get out of that cave,” he told Vanity Fair in 2014. “A lot of people do get out but don’t change. So the thing is to get out and recognize the significance of that aggressive denial of your fate, come through the crucible forged into a stronger metal.”

Vincent Van Gogh

Brad Pitt has been in the film industry for three decades as an actor and producer of several successful films. Behind the scenes, however, he had been struggling with a long-term battle with drugs and alcohol. After a public divorce and custody battle in 2017, he opened up about his alcohol and drug addiction issues and his attempts to stay sober. The young starlet, like many child actresses, has publicly struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. Lohan has to work hard to stay sober, and has already had one failed attempt at rehab in 2011. In 2010, she was forced by court order to wear an alcohol detection bracelet to monitor her alcohol consumption.

Get Help for Alcohol Addiction at Gateway Foundation

She has addressed her ongoing recovery in interviews, on social media, and in her music. The famous comedian abused cocaine and alcohol early in his career, but quit when friend and fellow comedian, John Belushi, died of a cocaine and heroin overdose in 1982. After that, the late actor struggled off and on with alcohol for years until his death in 2014. He even regularly highlighted these struggles as a part of his stand-up routines.

He says he drank a lot during filming of the last three Potter films, and finally realized it was something he couldn’t control. He says he quit after the last film wrapped and continues to work on his recovery. The actress and children’s book author calls recovery from alcohol and drug addiction the greatest single accomplishment of her life. She says she became addicted to prescription painkillers she was given after a cosmetic procedure.

Member the Eagles and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Blues Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Entire career with New York Giants.

In the book, she writes how she used alcohol as a coping mechanism and how drinking worsened those deep-seated issues. She also opened up about her 45-yearlong fight with bipolar disorder and drug addiction, explaining how she misused opioids in an attempt to self-medicate her manic episodes. Samuel L. Jackson is a highly successful actor, having appeared in over a hundred films, and is currently the second highest-grossing actor of all time. During most of his early career as a stage actor, he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. His first role upon completing rehab was as a cocaine addict in Jungle Fever, the film that launched his cinematic career.