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Fame can be both a blessing and a curse. For some the pressure of being a celebrity can lead to them rely on alcohol and drugs to get them through life on the red carpet and in the public eye. Alcoholism and drug addiction are hard to treat and it can be a life or death decision to take control and enter rehab. Whilst some celebs like Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively have never touched a drink or drugs, others have had to do the hard yards to get clean and sober. Listed here are 10 famous celebs who have managed to get themselves sober, sometimes after decades of substance abuse and bad behaviour.
10 – Charlie Sheen
Sober for – 18 months.
Charlie Sheen is a renowned wild boy and now the former Two & a Half Men star (who is also HIV positive) has finally kicked his alcohol addiction and has been sober since early 2018. He says the main reason for his abstinence is his family who he felt he was letting down. Even though he once said that sobriety was ‘boring’, Sheen made the decision when he realised he was too drunk to drive his daughter to an appointment and as he told the UK talk show Loose Women, ‘I don’t drink and drive ever, I have never had a DUI. I was like, ‘Wow, I am not even responsible enough to be available for my children’s needs.’ The next morning I woke up and said, ‘Today is the day.’’
9 – Lana Del Rey
Sober for – 16 years
The barefooted superstar chanteuse, whose real name is Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, was a wild teenager who at the age of 14 was sent to boarding school to get sober. She finally kicked her booze and drug habit at 18, going on to be one of the most successful female singer songwriters of the modern era. She said in 2012; ‘It’s been nine years since my last drink. That’s really why I got sent to boarding school aged 14—to get sober.’
8 – Eva Mendes
Sober for – 11 years
The 2 Fast 2 Furious star, who’s married to Ryan Gosling, has always been careful to keep her private life out of the spotlight. Many were surprised when, in 2008, Eva Mendes quietly checked into a rehab clinic to deal with her alcohol abuse. She opened up about her rehab experience in Interview magazine in 2008, ‘I’m proud of people who have the determination and the fearlessness to actually go and face their demons and get better. This is a life or death situation.’
7 – Ozzy Osbourne
Sober for – 6 years
He is truly one of the wildest men in rock music both with his band, Black Sabbath and his own solo career, and the stories of Ozzy’s antics are legendary. He once snorted a line of ants as a dare and famously bit the head off a live bat. But in 2013, Ozzy realised that he had few chances left and went in to rehab for the sake of his marriage and family. However, don’t expect Ozzy to give you any recovery advice. He told Rolling Stone last year, ‘I’m not one of those guys who gets sober and says, “No, you shouldn’t drink.” If I could have a drink of booze right now and have a great time, I wouldn’t be on the phone with you – I’d be in the bar. But it bit me in the ass big-time.’
6 – Alec Baldwin
Sober for – 34 years
The 30 Rock star can tell you the exact date he got sober, February 23, 1985, and he has never faltered. He told Good Morning America that he’s glad he got sober when he was younger but that it was an incredibly tough period in his life. ‘I got sober when I was just about to turn 27,’ Baldwin said. ‘And those two years that I lived in that white, hot period, as a daily drug abuser, as a daily drinker…to my misery, boy, that was a tough time.’
5 – Daniel Radcliffe
Sober for – 7 years
Being thrust in to the spotlight at an early age can be incredibly difficult; for the Harry Potter star alcohol was a way to escape the pressure of fame. Ultimately he came to realise that the constant drinking was doing him no good, he’d even started boozing on the set of his famous film franchise. In the end it was the help of friends that got him through a difficult recovery process. He told Huffington Post that, ‘I have been unbelievably lucky with the people I had around me at certain times in my life. I met some really key people, some actors, some of them not, who just gave me great advice and really cared for me.’
4 – Edie Falco
Sober for – 27 years
Edie Falco comes from a tough Italian/American neighbourhood in New York and initially wasn’t impressed with the ‘touchy feely’ aspect of Alcoholics Anonymous. However after her drinking was spiralling out of control the Nurse Jackie star realised she needed to get sober and now visits her local AA centre every year on the anniversary of her recovery. She told Fortune magazine, ‘It became clear that this had grabbed me, had a hold on me.’
3 – Bradley Cooper
Sober for – 15 years
To prepare for his Oscar nominated role as alcoholic rockstar Jackson Maine in ‘A Star Is Born’, Bradley Cooper drew from his own personal experience as a party guy who loved the chaos of drinking and drugging. He once split his head open and was taken to hospital after repeatedly bashing it on a concrete floor to prove how tough he was. At the age of 29, five years before his break out role in ‘The Hangover’, Cooper entered rehab and got clean and sober. He said of his drinking days, ‘If I continued it, I was really going to sabotage my whole life.’
2 – Russell Brand
Sober for – 16 years
English comedian and star of “Get Him To The Greek”, Russell Brand was a heroin and crack addict who thrived on substance abuse. His road to recovery was difficult but the 43-year-old got there eventually and is thankful for the support he received in trying to get sober. In late 2018, he released a memoir of his road to sobriety, Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions, that he hopes will inspire others to take the steps to get sober. He told The Fix that it’s very difficult to do it on your own and that he was lucky to have so many people willing to mentor him on his road to recovery. ‘I had the privilege of going to a 12-step treatment centre, getting three months there, the hugs man, the hugs, the optimism. And then coming out and finding other people, support groups where people would sort me out.’
1 – Brad Pitt
Sober for – 18 months
The “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ star’s drinking was the catalyst for his break up with Angelina Jolie; he once said, ‘I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good.’ After she filed for divorce in 2016, Brad Pitt sought treatment for his alcoholism and he spent 18 months in an AA centre getting sober. Despite his fame, none of the other AA members ever told the media that they were in rehab with the superstar actor. Now he remains committed to staying sober telling the New York Times in a recent interview, ‘I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges.’
