Top 10 Inspiring Times Celebrities Quit Drinking
Top10 Inspiring Times Celebrities Quit Drinking
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Are you giving Dry January a chance? Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 inspiring times celebrities quit drinking. For this list, we’re looking at celebrities who decided to go sober.
#10 Bradley Cooper
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15 Years Sober Despite starring in the “Hangover” movies, Bradley Cooper has been sober since the age of 29. He decided to take this step after his problems with addiction started to affect both his job and his ability to live his life. In the early 2000s, his mental health started to suffer, and he began having intrusive, dangerous thoughts, so much so that he has stressed in later interviews that if he hadn’t gotten the help he needed, he might not be here today. It was only after he stopped drinking that he started to land big roles in movies like “Wedding Crashers” and “The Hangover” and even used his experience as an alcoholic to inform his acclaimed performance in “A Star is Born.”
#9 Eva Mendes
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11 Years Sober In 2008, Eva Mendes shocked the world when she checked into rehab. At the time, spokespeople said that her problems were “not critical”, and going to rehab was entirely her own choice. The true extent of her addiction never made it to the tabloids, something she’s been happy about. Mendes has since spoken out about how the idea of going to rehab is misrepresented, and that people need a huge amount of “determination and fearlessness” to check themselves in. She’s sober now after 11 years and even offers support to others willing to take the same steps.
#8 Keith Urban
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13 Years Sober Staying sober just got harder and harder for Keith Urban after he moved to the US to pursue a career in country music. He’s spoken candidly in interviews about his problem, which was only curbed in 2007 when, after four months into their marriage, Nicole Kidman staged an intervention and persuaded him to go to rehab. Urban has said that at the darkest point, he didn’t care whether he lived or died. The good news is he’s been on the wagon since then, and both his marriage and his career remain strong. He’s even offered advice on turning to sobriety for people in similar situations; most notably Demi Lovato.
#7 Dax Shepard
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15 Years Sober In 2004, just before starring in “Zathura”, Dax Shepard was finally able to take the hard step and quit drinking and drugs for good. In interviews, he has openly discussed his many attempts to get sober over the years, noting one particularly bad time in which, while attending AA meetings in Hawaii, he went on a three-day bender and smoked crystal meth. Since quitting, he’s turned his life around completely, meeting Kristen Bell in 2007 and ultimately marrying her. Today, they celebrate his “sober birthday” more than his actual birthday, and she has always been hugely supportive of his journey to happiness and sobriety.
#6 Rob Delaney
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17 Years Sober It took a lot of attempts for Rob Delaney to permanently get on the road to sobriety. The straw that finally broke the camel’s back was a nasty car crash in 2002 where he broke both his arms and severely damaged his knees. He had to get sober after this because he could no longer hide what was happening to him. He later saw the full extent of the horrors of addiction when three of his friends from rehab died in quick succession soon after his departure. Delaney has talked about his alcoholism in books and has explored it in his TV show “Catastrophe”, with plot lines revolving around the main character relapsing.
#5 Daniel Radcliffe
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7 Years Sober Dealing with stardom at a young age is always hard, but more so when you play the leading role for ten straight years in one of the biggest movie franchises ever. Daniel Radcliffe turned to drinking when he was very young and has said it became a large problem between the ages of 18 and 21. He felt he needed alcohol to cope with his fame and even showed up drunk to the set of the later “Harry Potter” films. After the last one wrapped, he decided to stop drinking for good. Though Radcliffe had a brief relapse in 2016, he picked himself up and got back on the wagon.
#4 Russell Brand
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16 Years Sober This comedian has made no secrets of his long battles with addiction. In using it as material for his standup, he’s been a huge advocate for educating the public about the nature of addiction. After spending his youth addicted to heroin and crack, he was finally able to get clean after going to a 12-step center for three months – something only possible because he was persuaded to do so by his ex-manager. In the years since, he’s spent his time trying to help others struggling with the same disease, stressing the necessity of support and self-knowledge.
#3 Ozzy Osbourne
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6 Years Sober The Black Sabbath frontman has had a crazier life than most, and he’s still around to talk about it – though he’s said, that owing to his lifestyle, he should have been dead decades ago. He was in his 60s when he decided to try and get sober, and one of his biggest motivators was his family. Without the support of Sharon Osbourne, he never would have been able to do it, and may not have even wanted to. Since becoming sober he’s prioritized his relationship with his kids, making the effort to actually be in their lives now.
#2 Sir Elton John
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29 Years Sober Throughout the 1980s, Elton John was battling a serious drug problem that almost took his life. He ultimately sought treatment in 1990 and then took a year off, fearing he wouldn’t be able to perform while sober. But he was stronger than he thought and has stayed on the straight and narrow since. His full struggle with substance abuse was shown in the 2019 biopic “Rocketman”, about his early career, fame, and his eventual turn to sobriety. The movie, produced by John himself, is so accurate in these depictions that he and his husband have both found parts of it hard to watch.
#1 Robert Downey Jr.
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16 Years Sober He has successfully stayed away from substance abuse since 2003, but prior to that, Robert Downey Jr. spent years in the tabloids for frequent trips to jail and rehab. His problems began at the age of six, when his father let him smoke marijuana, and then used mutual drug use as a way to bond with his son. After starring in “Less Than Zero”, his problems steadily worsened, eventually costing him his marriage to Deborah Falconer in 2001. Things began to look up though when he met producer Susan Levin, and he credits her as one of the reasons he was able to overcome his addictions. Now, he’s the leading man of the MCU and has even had his former drug convictions overturned.
