Thoughts on Sobriety from Celebs Who Don’t Drink

“The priority of any addict is to anesthetize the pain of living to ease the passage of day with some purchased relief. Don’t pick up a drink or drug, one day at a time. It sounds so simple; it actually is simple bit it isn’t easy; it requires incredible support and fastidious structuring. It is 10 years since I used drugs or drank alcohol and my life has improved immeasurably.”

Here are some really cool quotes from celebrities who choose not to drink. Some, but not all of them are recovering from alcohol or drug addiction. What they do have in common is their sobriety and success. Here are some thoughts on sobriety from celebs who don’t drink.

#1. Simon Pegg

“I find it easier to keep fit if I don’t drink. I have given up for two years and I don’t miss it in the slightest.”

Actor and comedian Simon Pegg has revealed in the past that stopped drinking alcohol and has been feeling healthier ever since. “I was starting to do Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, which required more of a physical contribution and [alcohol has] so many empty calories,” he says. “I find it easier to keep fit if I don’t drink. I have given up for two years and I don’t miss it in the slightest.”

Besides health reasons, Pegg said he also gave up drinking alcohol in order to be a better parent. “I also want to be able to wake up fresh in the morning and play with my kid,” he says. “You can’t be a present parent and drink, unless you take it in turns to lie in until 11 every morning.”

#2. Chris Hardwick

” Ultimately, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. There’s an economy of energy that you have in your life. You just have to devote it to the things that are good for you. For the most part, that’s more constructive than drinking, and one of them doesn’t end in uncontrollable vomiting and crying…The first thing I noticed about sobriety? I lost about 20 pounds within a couple of months. I started getting compliments, this was highly motivating. Years later, and through much therapy, I would come to discover all of the really bad things (as opposed to weight gain) alcoholism caused, like anxiety, paranoia, and perpetual emotional infancy.”

The self -proclaimed “Nerdist” comedian has had some major changes in the past decade. His career includes a featured role on MTV, including Singled Out and several other popular projects, all while battling his issues with weight and alcoholism. Currently, his career has blossomed even more with roles in Grown Ups 2 and hosting the AMC recap series Talking Dead where he speaks with stars from popular series The Walking Dead. He currently hosts the hilarious @midnight, a comedic panel show in which 3 different comedians and celebs take on pop culture with their wit.

#3. Gerard Butler

“I don’t miss it. Now it’s as if I never had a drink in my life. At one point, I could never have conceived going out and not drinking but, as time goes on, you lose the urge and the insecurity that often makes people drink in the first place.” 

Butler quit drinking over 15 years ago but did another stint in rehab a couple of years back for prescription painkiller abuse. The actor had been prescribed the pills after sustaining an injury while shooting the movie Shattered in 2007. “I started taking more. And I started taking them very quickly.” He says he sought treatment before it got too out of hand. Butler has been clean and sober ever since.

#4. Joe Manganiello

“You get to a place where you’re afraid you’re going to do irreversible harm to yourself or to someone else. That fear grows so great that you wake up one day and you don’t know where you’re headed, and you don’t know what to do, but you just know you can’t keep doing what you’ve been doing. I’m a better man for having gone through it. When I was at the point where I had completely failed at life, I swore that if success ever happened, if I ever had another opportunity, I’d never take it for granted. I would spend every waking moment making sure I did the best I could.”

His break out role is a werewolf on the popular, recently-ended show “True Blood,” but Joe Manganiello has also written a book called Evolution: The Cutting Edge Guide to Breaking Down Mental Walls and Building the Body You’ve Always Wanted in which he revealed his past struggles with an alcohol problem when he was in his 20s.

“I needed to clear the road in order for these things to happen, so it really is an inside job. I had to clean up my act and figure that whole situation out.”

“My life was ruined,” he added of his struggle. “I was homeless, careless and broke with no career, so yes, it was worth it [to get sober].”

#5. Ewan McGregor

” I was someone who couldn’t smoke or drink in moderation, and I recognized that those things would kill me. I started visualizing the doctor telling me that I had cancer from smoking or that I was extremely ill because of how much I’d been drinking. What kind of regret would I have if I had to tell my children or my wife that I was dying because of something I could have done something about? I didn’t want to be that kind of man.”

“Originally I was a happy drunk. But later I was miserable because it’s a depressant,” the Scottish actor has said. “I was just ashamed of myself, really.”

McGregor says he stopped drinking because he was afraid he would lose everything he had worked so hard for. “I knew I was lucky, and somehow I knew that if I didn’t stop, everything would go tits up – my career, my family, my everything.”

#6. Samuel L. Jackson

“I still hang out in bars. I get something that looks like a drink so that people don’t know that I’m not drinking, because I want to be accepted. So I have a tonic with lime and it looks like a gin and tonic. People say things like, ‘If you hang out in a barber shop long enough, you’ll get a haircut.’ What? Shut up. People tell you stuff like that because they think you’re going to fail or sometimes they want you to, so they can say, ‘I told you so.'”

The 66-year-old actor declared that getting sober over 20 years ago significantly enhanced his ability to act, which led him to the pinnacle performances of his career in more recent times. Jackson, who lost his father to alcoholism, says his drug use began in the late 70s.

“I liked the feeling of not being cognizant of what was going on around me. I was working the whole time. I rehearsed and performed on drugs.”

#7. Gary Oldman

“Getting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest thing.”

He’s what I consider to be one of the most brilliant actors, being able to pull off different roles and is very rarely recognizable in each. Oldman has played the title role in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, he’s appeared in Harry Potter, Hannibal, True Romance, among many other memorable roles.

“I drank for about 25 years getting over the loss of my father and I took the anger out on myself. I did a good job at beating myself up at sometimes. I don’t drink anymore but my alcoholic head occasionally say’s different.

“It’s been said that alcoholics are egomaniacs with low self – esteem. It’s the prefect description. Being larger than life and yet your pride is crushed with self- loathing.”

#8. Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin

“I moved from drinking to depression to heavier drinking to deeper depression. I recognized a pattern, but I continually sabotaged my own efforts to do anything about it. If you’re still drinking, you make some pretty dumb decisions.”

Yes the Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, is a recovering alcoholic who’s been sober since 1978. Aldrin has said that he quit drinking a couple of days before his mission to the moon only to pick right back up when returned from the moon; instant celebrity status had taken him by surprise  and he immersed himself in alcohol, as he was unable to escape his depression and the disrepair of his marriage.

Aldrin sought treatment for his depression where he learned that he was an alcoholic and consequently  sought treatment for that as well.

#9. Sir Anthony Hopkins

“It was like being possessed by a demon, an addiction, and I couldn’t stop. And millions of people [are] around like that. I could not stop. I just thought, ‘Well, I have a choice here: change or die, grow or go.’ So I stopped doing certain things and I stated doing certain others, and I’m glad I did. I see other people still carrying this monkey on their back, which is exactly what it is.”

Anthony Hopkins struggled with alcoholism early on in his career. He says he turned to alcohol for comfort, rather than reaching out to his many supportive friends and loved ones. Hopkins says that his drinking turned him into a loner, and led to failed relationship after failed relationship. He woke up one morning in another state wondering how he got there, which prompted him to join Alcoholics Anonymous. He attributes AA to getting his life back on track.

Sir Anthony Hopkins has been sober going on four decades. “For me, giving it up was finding the airlock, the escape hatch. It all happened one Monday morning in 1975.”

#10. Henry Rollins

“I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone. Keep your blood clean, your body lean, and your mind sharp. I just get things done instead of talking about getting them done. I don’t go out and party. I don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs and I’m not married, that leaves a lot of time for my work.”

Henry Rollins may be best known as a singer/songwriter, but the self-described “aging punk icon” has gone from edgy singer to Grammy-winning spoken word artist to author, publisher, actor, radio and TV host, and biting political commentator. Despite the lifestyle so often associated to musicians, Rollins has never really messed with alcohol or other drugs for that matter.

Did you know these famous people were sober? It’s eye-opening to find out that there are so many people out there affected by alcoholism and drug addiction. It can also be surprising to see so many successful recovering alcoholics and addicts. But that’s what recovery brings: freedom and the ability to live a happy, successful life. It’s not merely about not drinking or using anymore; it’s about having a quality of life you never thought you could have. Recovery is possible. Call toll-free 1-800-951-6135 to speak directly with an Addiction Specialist today.