Lucy Hale celebrates three years of sobriety as she talks ‘miracles and magic’ since giving up drinking
Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale celebrated three years of sobriety in a touching Instagram post she uploaded on Thursday.
The 35-year-old announced she had quit drinking on Valentine’s Day 2023 and revealed she celebrated the first anniversary of the event the month before.
Now, she’s uploaded a heartfelt post about how her life has evolved since she made the decision to take the plunge.
Lucy, who gave up alcohol the day after New Year’s Day 2022, wrote: ‘Damn. 3 years ago today I started my journey to remember who I am.’
Reflecting on the intervening years, she wrote, “Since then, I have experienced moments that can only be described as pure wonder and magic.”
The Memphis-born actress added, “I am deeply grateful every day – for the people who guided the light, for a power greater than myself that loves me unconditionally, and for my own persistence in not giving up.”
Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale celebrated three years of sobriety in a touching Instagram post she uploaded on Thursday
She made sure to express her gratitude, writing, “To all of you who have supported my journey, I have felt your love and it means the world to me.”
Lucy added: “If you are struggling or walking a similar path, keep going. Just keep going. You are not alone and the world needs you.’
She was flooded with supportive comments from people like Demi Lovato, who herself struggled with addiction, writing, “So proud of you.”
The post comes three months after Lucy revealed that it took many, many, many years to get sober, many relapses, many dark moments, many of which literally fell on my face, but also figuratively to figure out what worked in my life . why I drank, because eliminating alcohol is only part of it’, via People.
‘From an early age I have always felt alone and misunderstood. So as a teenager I discovered alcohol, which of course shut down my brain. And it worked for me for a while, until it got really dark,” she recalls.
During her struggle with drinking, her work on Pretty Little Liars acted as a buoy, because “without my career and without that creative outlet, I don’t know if I would have made it.” I think that show and my love for what I do was really my North Star, it really gave me purpose, and still gives me purpose.”
However, she noted that she was “constantly in a cycle of extreme depression and anxiety, all the while having to show up for work and keep going.” And being ‘on’ led to even more drinking… I was trapped in a cycle that I couldn’t get out of.’
Lucy announced her sobriety on Valentine’s Day 2023, writing, “Although this journey has been largely private, tonight I felt compelled to let anyone who is struggling know that you are not alone and that you are loved.”
Lucy, who gave up alcohol the day after New Year’s Day 2022, wrote: ‘3 years ago today I started my journey to remember who I am’; she was pictured last June
Lucy (right) drank during the height of her stardom in Pretty Little Liars, on which she is pictured with Troian Bellisario, Shay Mitchell and Ashley Benson
Soon after, she candidly discussed her past drinking, saying, “You have to go to a dark place sometimes to get to that point… It’s dark and disgusting and scary.”
She added, “I wish I could go back and tell my sixteen-year-old self, buckle up, girl. We’re going to experience some shit,” on the Diary of a CEO podcast.
Lucy confessed on the podcast that the “coping mechanisms” she previously relied on for her problems were “incredibly self-destructive.”
She revealed, “I’ve been working on getting sober since I was 20… I just held on to the belief that the real Lucy came out when she was drinking.”
Lucy said she was “trying to change” for her mother and her career, adding that “one of my best friends died of alcoholism, and that still didn’t make me want to get sober.”
The 35-year-old announced she had quit drinking on Valentine’s Day 2023, revealing she had celebrated the first anniversary of the occasion the month before
Looking back on the way she drank, Lucy candidly thought, “Alcohol isn’t the problem, the problem is this feeling inside me.”
She further revealed, “I struggled with an eating disorder because society makes it very difficult to like the way you look.”
She said: ‘I hated myself so much that I couldn’t even meet basic needs like food… I didn’t feel worthy of the success, career or people in my life.’
In a previous interview in 2017, she said she hoped to quit drinking as she had lost “interest” in partying and hoped to become the “best version” of herself.
“I always try to surround myself with better people and be the best possible version of myself,” she said at the time Byrdie magazine.