Lucy Hale expressed this week that “life feels so good” since she became sober, while also reflecting on her “rock bottom” at 32, which led her to quit alcohol.
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| Lucy Hale Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for Pomellato |
Hale, now two-and-a-half years into sobriety, shared with People that she “made the choice” to “do everything I could to get sober” on January 2, 2022.
“It was the scariest decision of my life, but also the greatest gift,” Hale said. “When I made that change, everything else followed. My entire life transformed.”
The Pretty Little Liars star remembered “hitting rock bottom” at 32, just before making the life-altering decision. “I always wanted to change, but with addiction, you feel powerless to the obsession,” she explained.
For Hale, the struggle began in her teenage years. “From a very young age, I felt alone and misunderstood,” she shared, noting that alcohol “silenced my mind.”
“It worked for a while, until things turned very dark,” she admitted.
Her path to sobriety was not straightforward. “It took many, many years, countless relapses, dark moments, literally and figuratively falling on my face, but it helped me figure out what was going on in my life and why I was drinking. Removing alcohol is just one part of the journey,” she reflected.
Had she continued drinking, the singer confessed, “I would’ve lost everything that mattered to me.”
Hale credits her role on Pretty Little Liars for helping her cope with alcoholism in her 20s. “Without my career and that creative outlet, I’m not sure I would’ve made it,” she said. “That show and my passion for what I do became my North Star, it gave me a purpose and still does. But at the same time, I was stuck in a cycle of deep depression and anxiety while needing to show up at work and be ‘on.’ That ‘being on’ fueled even more drinking… I was trapped in a cycle I couldn’t escape.”
Approaching three years of sobriety, Hale acknowledged that it’s still “painful and uncomfortable” at times, but “my life feels so good now, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
“Every day, I still make the decision, ‘Okay, today I’m staying sober and choosing myself,’ but it goes deeper than just avoiding alcohol,” she said. “I can’t believe I’ve reached a point where I can openly discuss the things that once filled me with so much shame.”
This weekend, Hale will receive the Humanitarian Award at the 34th annual awards luncheon at Friendly House, an addiction recovery center in L.A.
“When I got sober, I never intended to be the poster child for sobriety,” she shared. “But when I started speaking about it, it came from a need to heal and reclaim my power.”
