REVEALED: The reason why so many celebrities are getting sober while Rihanna and Tom Holland are ditching the booze
It’s a new year, which means millions of Americans want to hit the gym, eat healthier and give up alcohol.
In fact, it’s estimated that as many as 75 million Americans will participate in Dry January, an increasingly popular trend that involves abstaining from alcohol for a month.
This would be the largest Dry January yet since the movement began in 2013.
Quitting booze, even for a month, has been shown to provide a host of benefits, including more restful sleep, weight loss, clearer skin and even a healthier liver.
An increasing number of celebrities have even taken Dry January a few steps forward and quit alcohol altogether, citing increased social pressure and the battle against addiction.
Rihanna announced this week that she hasn’t had a drink in a year. “New year, new me,” she further wrote Instagram.
Spider-Man star Tom Holland started his own non-alcoholic beer company, Bero, after realizing he might be ‘a little alcohol-y’ during Dry January.
And last year, Formula 1 phenomenon Lewis Hamilton revealed he had also quit drinking and created the first alcohol-free tequila brand.
Medical experts told DailyMail.com that more celebrities opening up about sobriety could reflect changing attitudes towards alcohol, amid mounting evidence about the long-term harms of drinking, such as liver disease, heart attacks and dementia.
They also suggested that the increase in celebrities speaking out about sobriety could be linked to the rise of non-alcoholic beverages, which are now a multi-billion dollar industry.
Rihanna announced on Instagram this week that she would not drink a single alcoholic beverage by 2024. She is pictured here on New Year’s Eve
On the left you see Rihanna in 2023 before she became a teetotaler, and on the right in late 2024 after a year of sobriety
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Data from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) shows that alcohol consumption in the US has increased overall, largely due to the pandemic.
Between 2018 and 2020, heavy alcohol use increased by 20 percent, and these numbers remained stable through 2022.
NIAAA estimates that eight in 10 Americans over the age of 12 have had a drink in their lives, and nearly two-thirds of American adults drink alcohol regularly, according to the Pew Research Center.
However, interest rates are starting to fall, especially in Generation Z.
A 2023 survey from Gallup found that the number of American adults under 35 who say they ever drink fell from 72 percent in 2001-2003 to 62 percent in 2021-2023.
Even among adults over 55, drinking rates have fallen from 59 percent to 49 percent over the same period.
Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, an internist at Crossover Health in California, told DailyMail.com: ‘Sobriety is no longer seen as unusual or limiting; instead, it has become socially acceptable and even aspirational.
‘Public figures often act as role models, and their decision to stop drinking aligns with a desire to maintain a positive public image, maximize productivity and improve their personal lives.
‘The normalization of sobriety in popular culture has also made it easier for individuals to openly discuss alcohol use and consider making changes to their own habits.’
Sophia Spencer, a social psychologist in Britain, told DailyMail.com that this does not mean more celebrities will suddenly become sober.
Instead, more conversations are happening about it.
She said: ‘The most important change is not that sobriety is trendier now, but that social norms have evolved. Sobriety is no longer seen as a response to excessive drinking or being socially awkward.
‘It’s been normalized to the point where people choose and celebrities talk about it publicly, being down to earth without feeling like they’re going against social norms or having to explicitly justify their choices.
“This normalization means that we are not necessarily seeing an increase in sober celebrities, but we are seeing more celebrities being open about sobriety.”
Although Rihanna hasn’t revealed her reasons for quitting alcohol in 2024, several celebrities have done so after struggling with addiction.
On the left is Robert Downey Jr.’s mug shot. from 2000, shortly after he was jailed for drug possession. He has since been open about his addiction issues and has been sober for the past two decades
Donald Trump Jr., pictured here, said in 2019 that he quit drinking because he had a ‘compulsive personality’
One of the most infamous is Robert Downey Jr., who publicly battled drug and alcohol addiction in the 1990s and early 2000s.
He began using drugs and alcohol as a teenager, which quickly escalated to a three-year prison sentence in 1999 for possession of heroin and cocaine.
In 2001 he checked into a rehab clinic and has been recovering since 2003.
The now 59-year-old Iron Man star said in a recent documentary: ‘I was just playing a game of wanting to calm myself down or just stay charged, rather than deal with the fact that things were a little out of hand walked. ‘
More recently, Donald Trump Jr. wrote in his 2019 book “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us” that he chose to abstain from alcohol after realizing he has a “compulsive personality.”
He wrote, “Once I got started it wasn’t easy to hold back – which, when you’re in college, isn’t a big problem as long as you get your work done.
“With my personality, drinking alcohol was a recipe for disaster.”
His father, Donald Trump, also claims to have become a teetotaler after the death of his brother Fred Trump Jr. in 1981 from alcoholism.
High School Musical and The Iron Claw star Zac Efron has also spoken about staying sober after struggling with addiction.
Bella Hadid (left) and Zac Efron revealed they gave up alcohol due to addiction issues and realized they ‘lost control’ while drinking
In 2013, he entered rehab for alcohol and cocaine addiction.
He has remained sober since 2014 and has spoken openly about the pressures of Hollywood affecting his substance abuse.
The actor, now 36, said The Hollywood Reporter in 2014: ‘I drank way, way too much.
‘It’s never one specific thing. I mean, you’re in your twenties, single, and you’re going through life in Hollywood, you know? Everything is thrown at you.
“I wouldn’t take anything back; I had to learn everything I did. But it was an interesting journey to say the least.”
Other celebrities have turned to increasingly popular non-alcoholic cocktails and beer to curb the habit.
Supermodel Bella Hadid revealed last year that she got sober in 2022 by co-founding non-alcoholic drinks company Kin Euphorics.
She wrote on Instagram: “I’m so proud of everyone who discovers their sobriety or who has had the courage to open up to Dry July!”
In a recent interview with InStyle, the 27-year-old admitted that she started to lose control of herself after a night of heavy drinking.
She said: ‘I’ve done my share of drinking.
‘I loved alcohol and it got to the point where I even started canceling nights where I felt like I couldn’t control myself.
“There’s just this never-ending effect of, basically, pain and stress over those few drinks that didn’t really do much, you know?”
Tom Holland got sober in 2022 after completing Dry January. He has since founded the non-alcoholic beer company Bero
Zendaya, pictured with boyfriend Holland, said after her 21st birthday in 2017 that she never plans to drink
Tom Holland went through a similar change when he started Dry January in 2022. At that point he was drinking so regularly that it became second nature.
He told it Men’s health this week: ‘Every Friday after work was a write-off: let’s get drunk and have fun.
“I didn’t have any bad experiences, but I drank enough to ruin my next day.”
He has been sober ever since and founded non-alcoholic beer company Bero last year.
Holland said Forbes: ‘My first year sober was very difficult, and if I had had Bero, I think it would have been easier.’
In 2023, the non-alcoholic beverage market totaled $1.2 billion, up 29 percent from the previous year.
Dr. Ungerleider said, “For some celebrities, like Tom Holland, sobriety has even opened doors to new opportunities, such as his business venture into non-alcoholic beverages, further highlighting how abstinence from alcohol can fit seamlessly into a modern lifestyle.”
His girlfriend and fellow actor Zendaya also abstains from drinking, which Holland says helped him stay sober.
When she turned 21 in 2017, the Euphoria star wrote about her website: ‘Just because I’m now of legal drinking age doesn’t mean I’m going to throw them back.
‘I don’t plan on drinking. My life is too stressful to need help relaxing with a cocktail. This industry is way too crazy for me to not have control over myself and my decisions, so I just don’t want to introduce the drinking!
‘Besides, I don’t want drinking to become a vice. Why try something if you don’t need it?!”