Denzel Washington Shares He’s Been Sober for Nearly 10 Years

The Spider-Man: No Way Home star stopped drinking intoxicant successful 2022 after feeling "enslaved" to the drink. "I was decidedly addicted to alcohol, not shying distant from that astatine all," Holland recalled connected the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast. "I deliberation that anyone that has a brew mundane has astir apt got a small spot of a problem."

"And past you would conscionable scope that infinitesimal wherever you're similar 'Wow, I shouldn't person had that past beer,'" the histrion continued. "And you aftermath up the adjacent time and you person a unspeakable headache."

Since making the manner change, Holland noticed helium "could slumber better" and "handle problems better."

"Things that would spell incorrect connected acceptable that would usually acceptable maine off, I could instrumentality successful my stride," helium shared. "I had truthful overmuch specified amended intelligence clarity. I felt healthier. I felt fitter."

The prima of Hunt for Red October does not often talk to his sobriety journey, which began astir forty years ago. 

"I don't sermon this a lot," helium said during a May 2024 podcast appearance. "I sermon it each present and past erstwhile it makes sense. I'm 39 years sober. I got sober Feb. 23, 1985."

Speaking astir his beingness aft moving from New York City to Los Angeles successful 1983, Alec explained, "I had a white-hot occupation each time for 2 years. I deliberation I snorted a enactment of cocaine from present to Saturn. We took it backmost home. I mean, cocaine was similar java backmost then. Everybody was doing it each time long."

And aft quitting the drug, helium soon turned to alcohol—only to besides discontinue that dependency. 

Today, helium relies connected the metropolis astir him. 

"New York relaxes me," helium shared of his home. "I locomotion astir and I spot aspects of it that I've ne'er seen before. I'll look astatine a gathering and I'll go, 'My God, I ne'er noticed that astir that building, those doors.' I person lunches and java and my friends."

The Princess Diaries alum shared successful April 2024 that she is more than 5 years sober. As she told the New York Times, "That feels similar a milestone to me."

Her reasoning was clear. "I knew heavy down it wasn't for me," she shared. "And it conscionable felt truthful utmost to person to say, 'But none?' But none. If you're allergic to thing oregon person an anaphylactic absorption to something, you don't reason with it. So I stopped arguing with it."

And she's blessed she made that decision. "My idiosyncratic acquisition with it is that everything is better," she continued. "For me, it was wallowing fuel. And I don't similar to wallow."

His conflict began during the tallness of 1D mania. "The occupation we had successful the band—and I don't blasted anybody for this...But it feels to maine like, erstwhile we were successful the band, the champion mode to unafraid us, due to the fact that of however large it got, was to conscionable fastener america successful a room. And, of course, what is successful the room? A minibar," Liam shared. "So astatine a definite point, I thought, 'Well, I'm going to person a enactment for one,' and that conscionable seemed to transportation connected passim galore years of my life."

Throughuot, he's been candid astir his sobriety. "It was lone until I saw myself aft that I was like, 'All right, I request to hole myself,'" helium recalled successful June 2021 when  helium said helium was much than 1 period sober astatine the time. "It was similar a fewer pictures of maine connected a vessel and I'm all, like, bloated out, and I telephone it pills-and-booze face….My look was conscionable similar 10 times much than it is now. And I conscionable didn't similar myself precise much, truthful past I made a change."

While accepting the 2018 Woman of the Year Award by the Peggy Albrecht Friendly House, a residential programme for women recovering from substance and intoxicant abuse, Moore spoke astir the "self-destructive path" that astir derailed her career. 

"I consciousness similar there's a defining moments successful our lives that signifier who we are and the absorption we spell and aboriginal successful my career, I was spiraling down a way of existent self-destruction and nary substance what successes I had, I conscionable ne'er felt bully enough," the prima recalled. "I had perfectly nary worth for myself and this self-destructive path, it precise rapidly brought maine to a existent situation constituent and it wasn't wide astatine the clip the reason. Maybe it was divine intervention." 

Moore, who sought attraction successful 2012, thanked 2 unnamed radical she "barely knew" for delivering thing of an ultimatum to her to crook her beingness around. "Unless I was dead, I amended amusement up," she quipped, adding that she was given "a accidental to redirect the people of my beingness earlier I destroyed everything."

"Clearly they saw much of maine than I saw of myself," Moore noted. "And I'm truthful grateful due to the fact that without that opportunity, without their believing me, I wouldn't beryllium lasting present today."

The precocious Friends prima revealed successful 2022 that helium had spent astir $9 cardinal trying to get sober aft getting hooked connected intoxicant and drugs astatine a young age. His addiction struggles began astatine property 14, erstwhile helium started drinking Budweiser and Andrès Baby Duck, earlier helium started dabbling successful drugs similar Vicodin, Xanax and OxyContin.

"I would fake backmost injuries. I would fake migraine headaches. I had 8 doctors going astatine the aforesaid time," Perry said successful a 2022 illustration in The New York Times, marking 18 months of sobriety. "I would aftermath up and person to get 55 Vicodin that day, and fig retired however to bash it. When you're a cause addict, it's each math. I spell to this place, and I request to instrumentality three. And past I spell to this place, and I'm going to instrumentality 5 due to the fact that I'm going to beryllium determination longer. It's exhausting but you person to bash it oregon you get very, precise sick."

He noted, "I wasn't doing it to consciousness precocious oregon to consciousness good. I surely wasn't a partyer; I conscionable wanted to beryllium connected my couch, instrumentality 5 Vicodin and ticker a movie. That was eden for me. It nary longer is."

Cyrus shared successful 2022 that she's been successful betterment for her Xanax addiction since 2020. "It gave maine truthful overmuch operation successful the clip that I truly needed structure, due to the fact that I didn't privation to conscionable beryllium sitting astir and stirring successful my brain," she told Rolling Stone. "It gave maine hope." 

The singer added, "Once I felt that it was imaginable to soundlessness things retired for a 2nd and numb your pain, it was over."

She said her friends astatine the clip "kind of cosigned" her cause usage and "it conscionable benignant of becomes this acheronian pit, bottomless pit." But, during the pandemic, Cyrus said she was noticing challenges and felt she wasn't emotionally present. "I was wholly nodding disconnected and falling asleep," she recalled. "And incapable to support my caput up oregon support my eyes open, due to the fact that I was truthful acold gone."

She yet sought assistance and noted that "it took immoderate clip to get connected my ain 2 feet."

The Parenthood alum was sober for 16 years earlier relapsing successful 2020 by taking Vicodin aft a motorcycle accident. 

"For the past 8 weeks maybe, I don't truly know…I'm connected them each day," helium said connected his Armchair Expert podcast. "And I'm allowed to beryllium connected them astatine immoderate dosage due to the fact that I person a medicine and past I'm besides augmenting that."

"And I hatred it," helium continued. "And I'm lying to different people. And I cognize I person to quit. But my tolerance is going up truthful rapidly that I'm present successful a concern wherever I'm taking, you know, 8 30s a day, and I cognize that's an magnitude that's going to effect successful a beauteous atrocious withdrawal. And I commencement getting truly scared, and I'm starting to consciousness truly lonely. And I conscionable person this tremendous secret." 

In 2018, the Halloween prima got precise candid astir her 10-year addiction to opiates, which began successful the precocious '80s aft a insignificant integrative country "for my hereditary puffy eyes." The reslt was a medicine that changed her life. "I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving," she told People. "No 1 knew. No one."

When her sister visited her successful the summertime of 1998 and brought on prescribed painkillers for a rib injury, Curtis said she deed her stone bottom. "I knew she had them successful her suitcase successful our impermanent country closet," she told the publication, crying astatine the memory. "I fundamentally took each her opiates. When she was leaving I knew she would battalion her suitcase and find her pills missing. I knew I had to admit to her what I had done, and truthful I wrote her a enactment and near it connected her suitcase. I came location that day, and she enactment her arms astir maine and told maine she loved maine and she was acrophobic astir maine and she was unwilling to ticker maine termination myself."

She attended her archetypal gathering connected Feb. 3, 1999, the aforesaid time she revealed her conflict to her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest. "He was incredulous that he'd ne'er noticed," Curtis said, adding that she's been sober ever since.

Barrymore, who antecedently went to rehab for intoxicant and cause addiction, shared successful 2021 that she was marking a large milestone successful her journey. "I'm conscionable going to accidental thing for the archetypal clip successful a agelong time: I person not had a portion of intoxicant successful 2 and a fractional years," she said connected CBS Mornings. "And it was thing that I realized conscionable did not service maine successful my life."

She added, "It's truthful funny. When we uncover ourselves and our truths and the things we've worked truthful hard for, it's truthful liberating and susceptible each astatine the aforesaid time." 

Barrymore aboriginal explained to the Los Angeles Times that she doesn't usage the "sober" statement due to the fact that she doesn't privation radical to deliberation she's "some cleanable Puritan."

"I kept thinking, ‘I'll maestro this. I'll fig it out,'" she said successful 2023. "And finally, I conscionable realized: ‘You've ne'er mastered this, and you ne'er will.'"

The A Star Is Born histrion struggled with a cocaine addiction during the aboriginal aughts earlier person Will Arnett stepped successful and confronted him retired astir his behavior.

"That was the archetypal clip I ever realized I had a occupation with drugs and alcohol⁠," Cooper recalled during a 2022 quality connected the Smartless podcast. "I'll conscionable ne'er hide it."

Crediting Arnett as "the reason" helium went sober, Cooper added, "He took that hazard of having a hard speech with maine that enactment maine connected a way of deciding to alteration my life."

In September 2023, the Cruel Intentions alum shared connected Instagram that this was "the longest I've gone since I was a teen without immoderate benignant of nicotine oregon marijuana successful my strategy (among different things)."

"Feeling thankful for the state that comes with breaking addictions and dependency connected substance," helium added. "Sobriety, clarity, and spiritual connectedness feels existent good."

After publically celebrating six years of sobriety connected circuit successful 2018, the vocalist stunned fans aboriginal that aforesaid twelvemonth with the merchandise of the confessional azygous "Sober," which revealed that she had relapsed.

"Mama, I'm truthful atrocious I'm not sober anymore / And Daddy delight forgive maine for the drinks spilled connected the level / To the ones who ne'er near maine / We've been down this roadworthy earlier I'm truthful sorry, I'm not sober anymore," she sang.

A period later, Lovato was hospitalized for a near-fatal overdose.

"I person ever been transparent astir my travel with addiction," she wrote connected Instagram 2 weeks later. "What I've learned is that this unwellness is not thing that disappears oregon fades with time. It is thing I indispensable proceed to flooded and person not done yet...I present request clip to heal and absorption connected my sobriety and roadworthy to recovery. The emotion you person each shown maine volition ne'er beryllium forgotten and I look guardant to the time wherever I tin accidental I came retired connected the different side. I volition support fighting." 

In 2018, she recalled battling her addictions to enactment and alcohol. "My benignant of addictions jump. They leap around. When I was younger, I decidedly deliberation I had a enactment addiction of immoderate kind, yes, that everything could beryllium fixed by sex," she said, earlier sharing astir the clip she realized she'd developed a troubling drinking problem.

"I retrieve reaching a stone bottommost that clip I was successful the location by myself and I had those 2 bottles of vino and was going for the 3rd bottle," she said. "And I was like, ‘Now clasp up. You're successful the this location by yourself going onto your 3rd vessel of wine? You mightiness person a problem.'"

"So I went acold turkey. That's the happening astir me: I tin spell acold turkey. I americium a binger, and I ever person to ticker myself and I tin conscionable get obsessed with things," she continued. "It's not what you're doing but however you're with it. Why you're doing it. It's the behaviour that's attached to it due to the fact that if you privation to person a batch of sex, that's great, but wherefore are you having each that sex? That's what you've got to look at."

The Backstreet Boys subordinate tried drugs for the archetypal clip earlier filming the euphony video for 2000's "The Call," telling Good Morning America years aboriginal that helium "was disconnected the walls" during the shoot. He got sober successful 2021 and saw numerous positive benefits conscionable 1 twelvemonth later, including losing 32 pounds successful 7 months by cutting retired intoxicant and accelerated food.

"Drinking caused value gain," helium told Today successful September 2022, "but it besides weighed down my intelligence state."

With the dual releases of her 4th workplace album No Shame and memoir My Thoughts Exactly, the vocalist spent overmuch of 2018 getting brutally honorable astir the tallness of her summation problems. According to Allen, she was abusing cocaine and drinking to the constituent of being "parisitically drunk. Ultimately, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin staged an intervention after she accidentally headbutted Orlando Bloom at Kate Hudson's Halloween enactment and knocked herself out.

She told The Guardian, "Nothing seemed to scope oregon fulfill me. I retrieve waking up 1 greeting successful those acheronian days thinking, ‘Maybe it's clip for heroin, due to the fact that thing other is working.'"

The Parent Trap histrion battled a cocaine addiction passim the '80s that sent him to rehab successful 1990. As helium aboriginal explained connected Today, helium grew up successful the '60s and '70s erstwhile "there was a wholly antithetic attitude" towards the drug. 

"It was adjacent successful immoderate movie budgets. I was fundamentally doing cocaine beauteous overmuch connected a regular ground during the '80s," helium admitted successful 2018. "I spent many, galore a nighttime screaming astatine God to 'Please instrumentality this distant from maine and I'll ne'er bash it again, origin I've lone got an hr earlier I person to beryllium astatine work.' Then astatine 4 o'clock successful the day I'd go, 'Oh it's not truthful bad.'"

"I had what I telephone a achromatic airy acquisition wherever I saw myself either dormant oregon losing everything that meant thing to me," helium continued. He had to beryllium down then-fiancée Meg Ryan and explicate what was going on. Then, helium sought help. "That was the extremity of the emotion matter with maine and cocaine."

After an incidental successful Newport Beach wherever the Olympic swimmer tried to footwear successful his ain edifice country door, Lochte made the decision to question treatment in 2018. "Ryan has been battling from intoxicant addiction for galore years and unluckily it has go a destructive signifier for him," his rep told E! News successful a statement. "He has acknowledged that helium needs nonrecreational assistance to flooded his occupation and volition beryllium getting assistance immediately."

"Ryan knows that conquering this illness present is simply a indispensable for him to debar making aboriginal mediocre decisions, to beryllium the champion hubby and begetter helium tin be, and if helium wants to execute his extremity to instrumentality to dominance successful the excavation successful his 5th Olympics successful Tokyo successful 2020," the connection concluded.

Although the Parenthood alum knows that "one of the things that you're not expected to bash is get sober for idiosyncratic else," his narration with now-wife Melanie Lynskey was a large crushed that led him to swearing disconnected alcohol.

"At a point, I knew however astonishing she was and I thought she would beryllium unthinkable for idiosyncratic who deserved her," helium explained during a March 2023 quality connected The Drew Barrymore Show, "and I didn't consciousness similar I was that person. I felt a small spot excessively crazy."

However, arsenic Ritter noted to E! News, helium present sees that sobriety is yet a idiosyncratic choice.

"It was easier for maine to accidental that I'm doing it for her because, astatine that time, I didn't consciousness similar I was benignant of worthy much," helium recalled of the aboriginal days of their relationship. "I didn't attraction arsenic overmuch astir hurting myself arsenic I did astir hurting her. So, initially it was easier for maine to say, 'I'm doing this for her.' And now, I'm doing it for myself."

The state prima has been sober for astir a decade, but it was a hard-fought roadworthy getting there. His addiction to intoxicant and symptom pills began soon aft graduating from precocious schoolhouse and didn't abate erstwhile his vocation began to instrumentality off. He kept a achromatic leather laptop container filled with bottles of Jagermeister oregon vodka "at arm's scope astatine each times," helium told antecedently revealed to People, adding that passim the day, "every hr and a fractional to 2 hours it'd beryllium clip to get 2 oregon 3 bully pulls connected the bottle. And each 3 oregon 4 hours it's clip for a pill oregon two." 

And it had nary effect connected his success. "It wasn't similar I was stumbling astir each day," helium admitted. "I was afloat functioning — I wrote much songs past than I bash now. That was the scary part."

In precocious 2011, helium was hospitalized with pancreatitis and was told that if helium didn't halt drinking, helium wouldn't spot his adjacent birthday. "I inactive enactment it disconnected and was trying to dilatory down connected my own, like, 'All close I'm lone gonna fto myself instrumentality 2 pills today. I'm lone gonna portion this overmuch of my vessel and marque a people connected the bottle,'" helium recalled. "And it would enactment a mates days—and past idiosyncratic throws a party."

He yet sought help, entering rehab connected Dec. 18, 2011. "I got to the constituent wherever I knew it was thing I couldn't bash connected my own," Gilbert said. "Pissed maine disconnected to nary extremity and embarrassed me. I'm a beauteous strong-willed idiosyncratic but that was the 1 happening successful my beingness that I couldn't get to stick."