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Yesterday — 6 January 2025Main stream

40 celebrities who have been open about their sobriety

6 January 2025 at 12:15
A composite image of Tom Holland, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Bradley Cooper.
Tom Holland, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Bradley Cooper are among the stars who have spoken about their sobriety.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP; Evan Agostini/Invision/AP; Myrna M. Suarez/Getty Images for ABA

  • Some celebrities are open about their sobriety.
  • For some stars, abstaining from alcohol and drugs comes after overcoming addiction.
  • Bradley Cooper, Tom Holland, Jessica Simpson, and more stars have spoken about their sobriety. 

Some celebrities are open about personal hardships, like efforts to abstain from alcohol and drugs. 

Actors like Jamie Lee Curtis, Bradley Cooper, and Anthony Hopkins have been sober for over a decade, while stars like Tom Holland and Lucy Hale have been candid about embarking on their sobriety journeys in recent years. Others, including Dax Shepard and Kelly Osbourne, have been honest about the challenges of maintaining their sober lifestyle.

Here are 40 celebrities who have spoken about their sobriety. 

Anjelica Oswald contributed to a previous version of this article. 

Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper at the LA premiere of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."
Bradley Cooper in April 2023.

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Cooper has been sober since he was 29. He told GQ in 2013 that he got sober because he realized that "if I continued it, I was really going to sabotage my whole life."

Cooper played a musician struggling with addiction in 2018's "A Star Is Born," which he also directed. He told Variety that it was a "cathartic" experience. 

"Anytime you're trying to tell the truth you need to go to places and use things that have happened to you, or you've read about or experienced," he said. "And that's all part of the beauty of turning whatever things you've gone through into a story. I find that to be very cathartic."

During an appearance on a 2023 episode of "Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge," Cooper said that he was "very lucky" to overcome his addictions. 

Cooper also said he was grateful to be sober when he played Jackson Maine in "A Star Is Born."

"Thank goodness I was at a place in my life where I was at ease with all of that, so I could really let myself go," he said. "I've been very lucky with the roles I've had to play. It's been a real blessing. I hope I get to keep doing it."

Tom Holland
Tom Holland at the NY premiere of "The Crowded Room" in June 2023.
Tom Holland in June 2023.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Holland spoke about his decision to become sober during an appearance on the podcast "On Purpose With Jay Shetty," released in July 2023.

After having a "very boozy December," the British actor chose to participate in Dry January. During that time, Holland found that he kept thinking about drinking, "and it just really scared me," to the point that he realized he has a dependency. 

Holland said he was "definitely addicted to alcohol" and didn't know how to navigate social settings without drinking. 

"I was really, really struggling and I started to really worry that maybe I had an alcohol problem. So I decided that I would wait until my birthday, which is June 1," the actor said. "I said to myself, 'If I can do six months without alcohol, then I can prove to myself that I don't have a problem.' And by the time I got to June 1, I was the happiest I've ever been in my life."

"It's honestly been the best thing I've ever done," Holland added. "I'm a year and a half into it now. It doesn't even cross my mind. I've found amazing replacements that I think are fantastic, ones that are also really healthy."

Holland's sobriety also led him to launch Bero, a premium non-alcoholic beer brand in 2024. 

Jamie Campbell Bower
Jamie Campbell Bower in November 2022.
Jamie Campbell Bower in November 2022.

Presley Ann/Getty Images for Netflix

"12 and a half years ago I was in active addiction," the "Stranger Things" star wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in July 2022. "Hurting myself and those around me who I loved the most. It got so bad that eventually I ended up in a hospital for mental health. I am now 7 1/2 years clean and sober."

"I have made many mistakes in my life, but each day is a chance to start again. Atone for mistakes and grow," he continued. "For anyone who wakes up thinking 'oh god not again' I promise you there's a way."

"I'm so grateful to be where I am, I'm so grateful to be sober," he said. "I'm so grateful to be. Remember, we are all works in progress."

Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson in September 2022.
Jessica Simpson in September 2022.

Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Jessica Simpson Collection

Simpson celebrated seven years of sobriety in November.

"I was at a place where I was literally spiraling with the alcohol and I was missing out on moments with my children, and then they were seeing me and they were very confused," Simpson said during an appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in 2020.

"I just wanted to be present and have clarity and be a good role model for my children, because I always wanted to be a good role model for the world, so why in the world would I be stuck in this cycle of having to wake up and have a drink before going to one of their school assemblies?" she continued. 

"It got to the point where all of my life has escalated and I couldn't suppress it," Simpson said. "And alcohol, it wasn't working. It was making me completely check out."

The star said that when she stopped drinking, she had "so much clarity."

 

Eminem
Eminem performing in November 2022.
Eminem performing in November 2022.

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Eminem, real name Marshall Mathers, almost died from an accidental overdose of the drug methadone in 2007. He later entered rehab and celebrated 12 years of sobriety in April 2020.

Eminem opened up about his addictions in a 2022 essay for XXL magazine, saying that drugs became "a part of the way I was living my life" once he got signed to a record label. 

The rapper recounted going to Tijuana multiple times to get drugs like Vicodin because it was "so easy to go back and forth to do it."

He said the "heaviest drug usage and addiction spanned only about five years of my life." His addiction worsened following the release of "The Marshall Mathers LP," as he was readying for his "Encore" album. 

"I was taking Vicodin, Valium, and alcohol," Eminem said. 

At one point, the rapper said he was taking 75 to 80 Valiums "a night."

During an appearance on Paul Rosenberg's "Paul Pod" podcast in 2022, Eminem spoke about how his life changed when he got clean while working on his "Relapse" album. 

"I remember when I first got sober and all the shit was out of my system, I remember just being, like, really happy and everything was fucking new to me again," he said. "It was the first album and the first time that I had fun recording in a long time." 

Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr. at the UK premiere of "Oppenheimer" in July 2023.
Robert Downey Jr. at the UK premiere of "Oppenheimer" in July 2023.

Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP

Robert Downey Jr. was arrested multiple times on drug-related charges over the span of a few years in the late '90s. He later spent time at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison and has focused on staying sober since.

"Job one is get out of that cave," he told Vanity Fair in 2014. "A lot of people do get out but don't change. So the thing is to get out and recognize the significance of that aggressive denial of your fate, come through the crucible forged into a stronger metal."

Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe in April 2023.
Rob Lowe in April 2023.

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Rob Lowe received the Spirit of Sobriety award in 2015 to celebrate 25 clean years.

"Being in recovery has given me everything of value that I have in my life," Lowe said when accepting the award. "Integrity, honesty, fearlessness, faith, a relationship with God, and most of all gratitude. It's given me a beautiful family and an amazing career. I'm under no illusions where I would be without the gift of alcoholism and the chance to recover from it."

Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris in June 2023.
Calvin Harris in June 2023.

Joe Maher/Getty Images

DJ and producer Calvin Harris told the BBC that he stopped drinking at 24 because it was affecting his work.

"I wasn't an alcoholic or anything like that, but it was clearly affecting what I do," he said. "My live shows are a million times better now. If you drink, you can't even remember if it's a good show or not — and that's probably for the best, because it would have been rubbish because I'd have been drunk and not making any sense."

Lucy Hale
Lucy Hale in July 2023.
Lucy Hale in July 2023.

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Miu Miu

Hale told Byrdie that she decided to quit drinking after spending a few years in the party scene.

"I'm just always trying to surround myself with better people and be the best version of myself possible," she said. "I know it sounds obnoxious to hear people say that, but why not?"

Hale celebrated three years of sobriety with an Instagram post in January 2025. Hale said that since choosing to abstain from alcohol, "I've experienced moments that can only be described as pure miracles and magic."

"I am deeply grateful every day—for the people who have been guiding lights, for a power greater than myself that loves me unconditionally, and for my own perseverance in not giving up," she wrote. "To all of you who have supported my journey, I have felt your love and it means everything to me."

Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe in November 2022.
Daniel Radcliffe in November 2022.

Andy Kropa/Invision/AP

In a conversation with Marc Maron for his "WTF" podcast in 2015, Daniel Radcliffe opened up about his alcohol addiction. 

"There was definitely a time when I was coming out of 'Potter' and I was into the real world, suddenly I was in a world where I'm not going to have that consistency anymore," he said. "I was pretty inconsolable on the last day of 'Potter.' I was really worried. I was living alone, and I think I was really freaked out ... I drank a lot, as has been recorded."

Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey performs on stage at L'Olympia on July 10, 2023 in Paris, France.
Lana Del Rey performing in July 2023.

Kristy Sparow/Getty Images

In an interview with British GQ in 2012, Lana Del Rey spoke about her struggles with alcohol and drugs as an underage teen.

"That's really why I got sent to boarding school aged 14 — to get sober," she said. "I was a big drinker at the time. I would drink every day. I would drink alone. ... I knew it was a problem when I liked it more than I liked doing anything else."

She eventually ended up at a rehab center for drug and alcohol addicts when she was 18.

Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck at the world premiere of "Air" in March 2023.
Ben Affleck in March 2023.

Ashley Landis/AP

Affleck first checked into rehab in 2001 and has continued to work on his sobriety through the years. In March 2017, the actor took to his Facebook page to talk about going back to rehab. 

"I have completed treatment for alcohol addiction; something I've dealt with in the past and will continue to confront," he wrote. "I want to live life to the fullest and be the best father I can be." 

His ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, took him to rehab again in August 2018. 

In a 2020 interview with The New York Times, Affleck named Bradley Cooper and Robert Downey Jr. as "guys who have been very supportive and to whom I feel a great sense of gratitude."

He also said that it "took me a long time to fundamentally, deeply, without a hint of doubt, admit to myself that I am an alcoholic."

Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt in February 2023.
Brad Pitt in February 2023.

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

In a 2017 interview with GQ, the actor talked about quitting drinking. 

"I mean, we have a winery. I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground," he said. "I had to step away for a minute. And truthfully I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good." 

Kristin Davis.
Kristin Davis on "Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen" in June 2023.
Kristin Davis on "Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen" in June 2023.

Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images

Davis spoke with Health magazine about her addiction in 2010. 

"I'm a recovering alcoholic," she said. "I've never hid it, but I've been sober the whole time I've been famous, so it wasn't like I had to go to rehab publicly."

Keith Urban
Keith Urban performing in June 2023.
Keith Urban performing in June 2023.

Terry Wyatt/WireImage

Keith Urban told Rolling Stone in 2016 that he turned to drugs and drinking in the late '90s. 

"I stepped up my drinking. I started doing more drugs," he said. "Yeah, man. The whole back end of the '90s were just awful."

He added: "You know, early on in my sobriety, there was a period when I wished I hadn't succumbed to drugs and everything the way I did. It sucked up so much creative time, when I should have been in the studio working. But I don't know what came from that time, other than that I'm where I am because of, or in spite of, nobody knows and never will."

Joe Manganiello
Joe Manganiello in March 2023.
Joe Manganiello in March 2023.

Cindy Ord/VF23/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

"I battled with addiction at a young age and got to the other side of that," he told Haute Living in 2015. "That's an ongoing battle. I think there's a story in there somewhere about trying to find my way through that and making it to where I am today." 

In 2018, he accepted a Spirit of Sobriety award.

"Sixteen years ago … I crashed and washed ashore on the banks of sobriety," he said. "When I was growing up, when I thought of an alcoholic, I thought of some toothless old guy in a trench coat in a basement somewhere. I just never thought that would apply to me. That type of stigma kept me from getting the help that I needed when I knew I needed it."

Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler in January 2023.
Gerard Butler in January 2023.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Butler spoke to Men's Journal in 2012 about being 15 years sober then. He said he went to rehab before he could reach full-blown pill addiction. 

"Maybe a stronger person wouldn't have needed to go," he said. "When you hear the word rehab, you think, 'He's a mess, he's fucked up.' But I'm glad I did it. I've made a shitload of wrong decisions in my life. But I know I've made some right ones as well."

Tobey Maguire
tobey maguire
Tobey Maguire in 2019.

Hutton Supancic/Getty Images

In 2003, the actor opened up to Playboy about being a recovering alcoholic and going to Alcoholics Anonymous.

"It's just all practical," he said. "There are no holes in the program. It's so, so simple. I come in, I ask for help. It has totally changed my life."

Russell Brand
Russell Brand in January 2020.
Russell Brand in January 2020.

Lester Cohen/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Brand went on "Megyn Kelly Today" to discuss his recovery in 2017. He previously had an addiction to heroin and alcoholism. 

"When I started, I took it one day at a time," he said. "Ultimately, I found that spirituality worked for me."

He celebrated 20 years of sobriety in December 2022.

"I'm 20 years clean and sober today," the comedian said on Instagram. "Thank you to all the people who have helped me to remain clean. It's never done on your own."

Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor in April 2023.
Ewan McGregor in April 2023.

Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney

Ewan McGregor has been sober since 2001. He told Playboy in 2005 that he stopped drinking before it could ruin his life.

"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," he said. 

Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell in May 2023.
Naomi Campbell in May 2023.

Lionel Hahn/Getty Images

Vogue reported that the model didn't know if she'd make it through the early 2000s. 

"The time between 1998 and 2005 was especially bad," she said. "During that time I avoided looking in the mirror, because I didn't like the person who was looking back at me. To be honest, there were times I thought I wouldn't survive. I used to have a lot of problems. Amongst others I drank too much so I joined Alcoholics Anonymous to get and stay sober."

She is also a member of Narcotics Anonymous. 

"It doesn't matter what walk of life — addiction and alcoholism doesn't discriminate," she said at the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in 2017. 

Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell at the 2023 Oscars.
Colin Farrell at the 2023 Oscars.

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

During an appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2017, Farrell celebrated his recovery. Farrell reportedly checked into rehab again in 2018 as a preventive measure when he began to feel urges, according to The Sun. 

He spoke about getting clean in a 2021 interview with The Irish Times, saying: "After 15 or 20 years of carousing the way I caroused and drinking the way I drank, the sober world is a pretty scary world."

"To come home and not to have the buffer support of a few drinks just to calm the nerves, it was a really amazing thing," Farrell added.

Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw performing in June 2023.
Tim McGraw performing in June 2023.

Terry Wyatt/WireImage

Tim McGraw quit drinking in 2008 when his family and friends began to worry about him.

"When your wife tells you it's gone too far, that's a big wake-up call," he told Men's Health."That, and realizing you're gonna lose everything you have. Not monetarily, not career-wise, but family-wise. I drank too much. I partied too much. And did other things too much." 

Tom Hardy
Tom Hardy in September 2021.
Tom Hardy in September 2021.

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sony

Hardy has been sober since he was 25. The actor sobered up in 2003 by using a 12-step program. He told Esquire it was his "first port of call." 

"It was hard enough for me to say, 'I'm an alcoholic,'" he said. "But staying stopped is fucking hard."

Kelly Osbourne
Kelly Osbourne in May 2023.
Kelly Osbourne in May 2023

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

Osbourne relapsed in 2021, after almost four years of sobriety.

"I am an addict and had thought that I had enough time under my belt and I could drink like a normal person, and it turns out I cannot and I will never be normal," Osbourne told Extra at the time. 

"This is something I am going to battle for the rest of my life," she added. "It's never going to be easy."

She celebrated one year of sobriety the following year.

"What a difference a year can make!" she wrote on Instagram. "If you would have told me 365 days ago that I would be sober, happy, and about to be a mumma I would have laughed in your face. Life is truly amazing when you do the work. Thank you to everyone that has supported me on this journey."

John Goodman
John Goodman in June 2023.
John Goodman in June 2023.

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Goodman struggled with alcoholism for years and even drank while filming the original "Roseanne." At one point, star Roseanne Barr confronted him about it. 

While on Howard Stern's SiriusXM show in March 2018, Goodman said, "She was scared for me, but she was more confrontational. She'd already had a husband go through the process."

He added: "The last four years were pretty bad, and I was drinking at work and [Barr] was scared for me. I was ashamed of myself, but I couldn't stop."

Dax Shepard
Dax Shepard in March 2023.
Dax Shepard in March 2023.

Jason Bollenbacher/Getty Images for SXSW

In 2012, Shepard told Playboy that he struggled with an addiction to drugs and alcohol. He said that from the ages of 18 to 29, he was a "heavy smoker, heavy drinker, drug addict, terrible eater, and philanderer."

"I just loved to get fucked-up — drinking, cocaine, opiates, marijuana, diet pills, pain pills, everything," he told Playboy. "Mostly my love was Jack Daniel's and cocaine."

He said that he'd get sober for some movie roles but then get right back into his drug and alcohol habits. 

Shepard's wife Kristen Bell wrote an emotional post on Instagram in September 2018 to celebrate his 14th year of sobriety. 

"I know how much you loved using. I know how much it got in your way. And I know, because I saw, how hard you worked to live without it," she wrote. "I will forever be in awe of your dedication, and the level of fierce moral inventory you perform on yourself, like an emotional surgery, every single night...'m so proud that you have never been ashamed of your story, but instead shared it widely, with the hope it might inspire someone else to become the best version of themselves."

In 2020, Shepard revealed on his podcast, "Armchair Expert," that he relapsed after 16 years of sobriety following a motorcycle accident that resulted in him using painkillers. At the time of the episode's release, the actor was seven days sober. 

Stephen Moyer
Stephen Moyer in February 2023.
Stephen Moyer in February 2023.

Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images for SBIFF

The "True Blood" star stopped drinking and went into rehab after the birth of his first son. 

"I got to a point in my life where I was totally out of control," he told The Telegraph in 2017. " I was shocked into doing something about it and fatherhood was definitely a big aspect of that —the catalyst that shook me. And I would never want to go back there." 

He added: "People, say, 'When are you going to be able to have a drink again?' And my answer to that is, 'I've already drunk all the drinks that I was supposed to drink in one lifetime.'"

John Mayer
John Mayer in August 2023.
John Mayer in August 2023.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for SiriusXM

Following Drake's 30th birthday party, Mayer was hungover for six days. It was after that experience that he decided to stop drinking.

"I looked out the window and I went, 'OK, John, what percentage of your potential would you like to have? Because if you say you'd like 60, and you'd like to spend the other 40 having fun, that's fine," he told Complex. "'But what percentage of what is available to you would you like to make happen? There's no wrong answer. What is it?' I went, '100.'"

During a 2022 interview on the podcast "Call Her Daddy," Mayer said that he hasn't really dated since getting sober.

"I don't think I have to, to be quite honest," he said. "I quit drinking like six years ago, so I don't have the liquid courage. I just have dry courage."

Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid in August 2023.
Dennis Quaid in August 2023.

Ed Rode/Getty Images

Quaid opened up about his cocaine addiction in an interview with The Sunday Times in 2018.

"I liked coke," he said. "I liked it to go out. I missed it for quite a while. I was doing about two grams a day."

He said he was "lucky" to get a sign that led him to rehab. 

"I had one of those white-light experiences where I saw myself being dead and losing everything I had worked for my whole life, so I put myself in rehab," he said. 

He stopped drinking for 10 years while kicking his drug addiction but later got back into alcohol.

"I started drinking again, because alcohol was never my problem," he said. "I never liked the feeling of being drunk. I would do coke and I would use alcohol to come down." 

Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen in May 2021.
Charlie Sheen in May 2021.

Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty Images

Sheen has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction for years. He quit doing cocaine and drinking for 11 years, but he told Dr. Oz in 2016 that he relapsed following his HIV diagnosis. 

"It was to suffocate the anxiety and what my life was going to become with this condition and getting so numb I didn't think about it," he said. "It was the only tool I had at the time, so I believed that would quell a lot of that angst. A lot of that fear. And it only made it worse." 

The actor told Us Weekly in 2019 that his daughter helped him realize he needed to get sober. 

"It was a Sunday. My daughter called and said, 'I need to get to this appointment immediately,' and I'd already had a few drinks," he said.

Sheen called a friend to drive because he couldn't.

"On the drive back, I was just like, 'Damn, man, I'm not available. I'm just not responsible, and there's no nobility in that,'" he said. "It was that night, I just sat with all that." 

Sheen continued: "If you can't be available for the basic necessity of being there for your children, then something really needs to shift. It was that next day that I said, 'All right. It's time. Let's give this a shot.' And then a month went by, a couple months went by, I'm [like], 'Alright. This feels good. This feels good.'"

The actor also told Jay Leno in 2019 that his sobriety "didn't require anything super dramatic and crazy and front-page news."

Zac Efron
TORONTO, ONTARIO - SEPTEMBER 13: Zac Efron attends "The Greatest Beer Run Ever" Premiere during the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on September 13, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario.
Zac Efron in September 2022.

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

Back in 2013, Efron went to rehab for an alcohol addiction.

"I was drinking a lot, way too much," he told The Hollywood Reporter about a year after his stint at rehab. "It's never one specific thing. I mean, you're in your 20s, single, going through life in Hollywood, you know? Everything is thrown at you."

He joined Alcoholics Anonymous and started seeing a therapist to help him on his journey, but added that battling addictions is a "never-ending struggle."

He told Elle in 2016 that getting sober provided him with "structure" in his life. 

 

Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis in 2023.
Jamie Lee Curtis in 2023.

Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images

Curtis has been sober for more than 20 years. In an interview with People magazine in 2018, Curtis revealed that she became addicted to opioids for 10 years following minor plastic surgery in 1989.

"I was ahead of the curve of the opiate epidemic," Curtis told the magazine. "I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving. No one knew. No one."

Her husband didn't even know until she went to her first recovery meeting in 1999. 

"Getting sober remains my single greatest accomplishment," Curtis said. "Bigger than my husband, bigger than both of my children, and bigger than any work, success, failure. Anything."

Josh Brolin
Josh Brolin in May 2022.
Josh Brolin in May 2022.

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Amazon Studios

Brolin entered rehab in 2013 and honored his five-year anniversary of being sober with an emotional Instagram post detailing a horrific night he was drunk. 

"Drunk: when you think you're having a rip roaring time and the next morning you wake up and your brain has broken into a frenzied beehive, and your body is shattered shards of sharp glass desperately searching for what fits where and your spirit is being eaten by worms with great white bloodied teeth and your heart has shriveled into a black prune churning your intestines to the point where dysentery feels attractive," he wrote. 

He continued: "And you can't remember anything you did so you roll out of bed over last night's urine and you dial your best friend's phone number because you recall him lifting you over his head, your whole self, before you hit and broke through the drywall and, you think, a large aquarium and the phone on the other end rings and he picks it up, that clambering for a phone, the clumsiness of a hardline, and you say: 'What did I do last night?!' and he answers, after a great pause: '…Dude…'. #5years."

In 2021, he celebrated his sobriety by posting a photo of his younger self, accompanied by a lengthy caption.

"Sobriety is finally loving without every thought being about how it affects only you," he said in part. "Sobriety is a moment of being able to love and be consumed by the glee it brings someone else. Sobriety is knowing the difference between selfishness and integrity."

In his 2024 memoir "From Under the Truck," Brolin said that he hit rock bottom when he visited his sickly 99-year-old grandmother while intoxicated. 

"I knew that was going to be the last time I drank," he wrote. 

"I love being sober," Brolin added. "I have more fun. There's nothing that I go through that I am absolutely certain wouldn't be worse if I was drinking."

Rob Delaney
Rob Delaney in June 2022.
Rob Delaney in June 2022.

Guy Smallman/Getty Images

"It's almost two decades," Delaney shared on Instagram in February 2022. "And I'm shocked and overwhelmed and grateful."

"Twenty years ago I was in jail in a wheelchair and now I'm on a couch, with a lovely quilt, and my life is unrecognizable," he said. 

"I got a lot of help from a lot of wonderful people," the actor added. "I started doing volunteer work after I'd been sober for a while, and through that I met my wife 18 years ago, and we've had so many children together. And I had the courage to pursue the career that I really wanted to."

Delaney lost his two-year-old son Henry in 2018 and credited his sobriety with helping him experience grief. 

"Sobriety allowed me to be a reasonably good dad, husband, and worker through it all," he said on X in 2019, when he celebrated 17 years. "Sobriety allows me to grieve fully, and grief is an expression of love." 

John Stamos
John Stamos in May 2023.
John Stamos in May 2023.

Matt Winkelmeyer/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

The actor spoke about his sobriety while presenting "Full House" costar Jodie Sweetin with the Writers In Treatment's Experience, Strength and Hope Award for her advocacy work for people in recovery. 

"It took me a long time, a long time disappointing everyone who cared about me, culminating in a terrible DUI where I could have killed somebody," Stamos said. "I hit rock bottom."

He continued: "Jodie lovingly allowed me to walk my own path and when I finally humbled myself to ask for your help, I realized that the perky little blabbermouth had become the master of wisdom and was right by my side during some of the most difficult days of my life." 

Elton John
Elton John performing in June 2023.
Elton John performing in June 2023.

Jim Dyson/Redferns

In a 2019 Instagram post, John wrote that "29 years ago today, I was a broken man. I finally summoned up the courage to say 3 words that would change my life: 'I need help.'" 

"Thank you to all the selfless people who have helped me on my journey through sobriety," he said. "I am eternally grateful."

John reflected on his addiction in a 2019 interview with Variety, saying that he "had reached the lowest ebb in my life — the absolute bottom."

"I hated myself so much," he said. "I was consumed with shame. All I wanted to do was get well. I put all of the energy I had left toward my recovery."

Kit Harington
Kit Harington in August 2024.
Kit Harington in August 2024.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

In an interview with GQ Hype, Kit Harington said that pre-sobriety, it was "physically and emotionally impossible for me not to drink again," and he's "lucky" he got clean before parenthood. (Harington shares a son and a daughter with his wife and "Game of Thrones" costar Rose Leslie.)

"The very fact that I can be proud of it is an achievement," he said, explaining that he used to be self-loathing and despise himself. "So the fact that I am proud of getting sober is in and of itself a mark of being an entirely different person."

Harington added that his sobriety has positively affected his work life, too.

"And now, every set I step onto, whatever work I do, I'm proud of, because I know I put everything into it," he said. "Whereas before I had this huge monkey on my back that was just, like, weighing me down. So yeah, the whole nature of being proud of myself is a relatively new prospect for me."

Flavor Flav
Flava Flav in February 2023.
Flava Flav in February 2023.

Matt York/AP

Flavor Flav, whose real name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr., has been sober since 2020.

On World Mental Health Day in October, he shared an Instagram post days ahead of celebrating four years of sobriety.

"My mental health is an important part of my sobriety journey," he said.

The musician said that he speaks to two therapists: a real one and an AI therapist, whom he uses between his hectic schedule and work travels.

Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins in March 2022.
Anthony Hopkins in March 2022.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Days before turning 87 in late December, Hopkins shared an encouraging message about his sobriety and the moment he had a wake-up call.

"I was having such fun," Hopkins said in a video shared on Instagram. "But then I realized I was in big, big trouble because I couldn't remember anything and I was driving a car drunk out of my skull."

"Then on that fatal day, I realized I needed help. So I got it," he added. "I phoned up a group of people like me — alcoholic. And that was it. Sober. I've had more fun these 49 years than ever."

 

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Bradley Cooper's 10 best and 10 worst movies, according to critics

5 January 2025 at 03:17
Bradley Cooper in a black sweater
Bradley Cooper in 2023.

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty

  • Bradley Cooper turns 50 on January 5.
  • We ranked his films based on Rotten Tomatoes scores, including "Licorice Pizza" and "The Hangover."
  • The highest-rated film Cooper has ever starred in is "Avengers: Endgame."

Cooper is one of the most highly decorated actors of his generation, with 12 Academy Award nominations — though no wins — and billions of dollars at the box office under his belt.

However, not all of his films have been highly regarded by critics. For every classic like "American Hustle" or "Guardians of the Galaxy," there are less-regarded films like "Case 39" and "All About Steve."

These are the best and worst films Cooper has starred in, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

These are the worst films of Cooper's career, according to critics.
bradley cooper
Bradley Cooper.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Not every performance can be Oscar-worthy.

10. "Burnt" (2010)
Burnt trailer
"Burnt."

The Weinstein Company

Rotten Tomatoes score: 29%

After Adam, a chef played by Cooper, flames out at his high-end Parisian restaurant due to drug use and erratic behavior, he moves to New Orleans to get sober, and then to London to try to rebuild his career.

"Barreling his way through scene after scene of sweary, shouty kitchen violence, the three-time Oscar nominee excels where the screenplay, script (and everything else) doesn't," wrote One Room with a View's Alex Flood.

9. "The Words" (2012)
The Words Cooper Irons
"The Words."

CBS Films

Rotten Tomatoes score: 24%

The film's main story is actually a reading of a novel written by Clayton Hammond (Dennis Quaid). Hammond's protagonist is Rory (Cooper), a struggling author who secretly passes off a manuscript he found as his own.

According to Chicago Reader's Drew Hunt, "The premise is ambitious — if not a little hokey — but the meager themes of ephemeral authorship and constructed realities aren't exactly revelatory."

8. "Failure to Launch" (2006)
Failure Launch
"Failure to Launch."

Paramount Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 23%

When 35-year-old Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) won't move out of his parents' home, they devise a plan to hire Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), who specializes in getting immature men to get their own places. Predictably, they fall in love. Cooper plays one of Tripp's friends, who has a similarly arrested development.

"A strange idea for a romantic comedy results in quite a strange film. Not much to like about the main plot, but some fun to be had on the fringes," writes the Herald Sun's Leigh Paatsch.

7. "Case 39" (2009)
case 39
"Case 39."

Paramount Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 22%

Social worker Emily Jenkins (Renée Zellweger) bonds with a troubled foster care child, Lillith, whose foster parents tried to burn her alive. However, Emily eventually deduces that Lillith is a demon who can cause people to hallucinate their worst fears. In one such scene, memorably acted by Cooper, his character, Douglas, is terrorized by hornets.

According to the Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov, the film is "neither so awful as to be enjoyable nor eerily artful enough to be anything other than a snoozy also-ran."

6. "The Hangover Part III" (2013)
the hangover 3
"The Hangover Part III."

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 21%

Four years after the events of the first "Hangover" film, the crew heads back to Las Vegas after their friend Doug (Justin Bartha) is kidnapped, due to their recklessness in the first film and their relationship with Chow, a criminal played by Ken Jeong. The trio of Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Stu (Ed Helms), and Phil (Cooper) must once again team up to solve the mystery.

"If you loved 'The Hangover' but loathed its nastier, cruder, non-hilarious sequel — apart from that quite amusing monkey — you'd be right to approach this threequel with caution," wrote Metro's Larushka Ivan-Zadeh.

5. "Aloha" (2015)
aloha
"Aloha."

Sony Pictures Releasing

Rotten Tomatoes score: 20%

Cooper plays Brian, a military contractor, who returns to Hawaii on behalf of a billionaire trying to turn local land into a space center. He also reunites with his ex-girlfriend and her new husband and meets a new woman, Allison (Emma Stone), who is in the Air Force.

"Half the time while watching 'Aloha,' I had no clue what was going on. Not so much the plot — although I was admittedly a bit muddled on that, too — but why anyone acted the way they did," wrote Max Weiss of Baltimore Magazine.

4. "Valentine's Day" (2010)
valentine's day
"Valentine's Day."

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 18%

The Garry Marshall film follows multiple intersecting plots across Valentine's Day, including Holden (Cooper) and Katherine (Julia Roberts), two strangers who bond while sitting next to each other on a plane. Holden is traveling to visit his boyfriend, and Katherine is briefly returning home to visit her son, as she is in the military and rarely gets to come home.

"A brutal St Valentine's Day massacre of comedy, of love, of believable human emotion," wrote The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw.

3. "Serena" (2014)
serena
"Serena."

Magnolia Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 17%

Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence costar as George and Serena, a married couple living in Depression-era North Carolina, whose schemes, jealousy, and resentment catch up to them in a tragic fashion. The film is based on the 2008 novel of the same name and is the lowest-rated film costarring Cooper and Lawrence.

According to Buzzfeed's Alison Willmore, the film is "an odd misfire from two actors at the peak of their game, but a misfire nonetheless."

2. "All About Steve" (2009)
all about steve
"All About Steve."

20th Century Fox

Rotten Tomatoes score: 7%

Mary, a quirky yet lonely crossword puzzle writer played by Sandra Bullock, stalks Steve (Cooper), a cameraman for a local news station, around the country after going on a date that she perceived as perfect — but for him, not so much. Along the way, Mary makes friends and becomes more confident in herself.

"On paper, a crazy romcom starring Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper could only be a good thing. Wrong," wrote Simon Braund for Empire Magazine.

1. "Brother's Justice" (2010)
brother's justice
"Brother's Justice."

Well Go USA Entertainment

Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%

This mockumentary follows Dax Shepard as he tries to pivot from comedy to action star by making a martial arts film called "Brother's Justice." He (unsuccessfully) attempts to get Cooper to costar in the film with him.

"Reeks of a throwaway joke that should have been left to die; even at a mere 80 minutes, this halfhearted Tinseltown satire still feels padded," wrote Time Out's Eric Hynes.

And now for the best films of Cooper's career.
Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper.

Getty Images / Jason Merritt

Between his Marvel career, "A Star Is Born," and his collaborations with directors David O. Russell and Paul Thomas Anderson, Cooper has been in his fair share of new classics.

Here's what the high points of his career are, according to critics.

10. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" (2023)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 Rocket Raccoon
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

Marvel Studios

Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%

Cooper returned to voice Rocket, a raccoon, for what may be the final time in "Vol. 3," which lets viewers learn about Rocket's tragic past, how he was created by a mad scientist playing god named the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), and how he has truly found a new family.

ScreenCrush's Matt Singer wrote that the film "completes Rocket's transformation from a footnote to one of Marvel's greatest characters."

8 (tie). "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017)
A raccoon named Rocket in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."

Disney/Marvel

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

A few months after the events of the first "Guardians" film, this installment sees the crew travel across the universe to meet Peter Quill's (Chris Pratt) father and, once again, save the galaxy.

According to David Sims of The Atlantic, "In Marvel lingo, 'Guardians 2' feels like a great six-issue arc, the kind of storytelling that used to be the backbone of superhero comics."

8 (tie). "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018)
rocket thor pom infinity war
"Avengers: Infinity War."

Disney/Marvel Studios

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

The Guardians of the Galaxy meet the Avengers in 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War," in which Rocket teams up with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on his quest to construct a weapon that can kill Thanos.

Simran Hans of The Observer wrote, "This chaotic but surprisingly nimble installment, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, brings together an eye-popping ensemble cast of A-listers (imagine the table read!) and pushes them into playful new configurations."

6 (tie). "Licorice Pizza" (2021)
Bradley Cooper in a white shirt
"Licorice Pizza."

MGM

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Paul Thomas Anderson's "Licorice Pizza" follows 15-year-old Gary (Cooper Hoffman) and the object of his affection, 25-year-old Alana (Alana Haim), as they meander their way through '70s San Fernando Valley. Cooper pops in for a couple of scenes towards the end in a truly electrifying performance as the real-life movie producer and ex-boyfriend of Barbra Streisand, Jon Peters.

"The things in 'Licorice Pizza' that are so good, like the performances from Haim and Hoffman and Cooper and the period fidelity, make you wish that the entire movie was just as good," wrote Mark Feeney of The Boston Globe.

6 (tie). "A Star Is Born" (2018)
a star is born
"A Star Is Born."

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Like the three "Star Is Born" films that preceded it, the story follows a young up-and-coming singer/actress, played by Lady Gaga, and her relationship with an aging star, played by Cooper, dealing with the pressures of fame and addiction, and what it means to be truly authentic.

This was also Cooper's directorial debut.

"At its huge, pulsating heart this is a story about lovers desperately trying to save one another — from the loss of integrity in an industry that disdains it and from self-destructive impulses with roots too old and deep to be touched," wrote Matthew Norman of The London Evening Standard.

5. "10 Cloverfield Lane" (2016)
10 cloverfield lane
"10 Cloverfield Lane."

Paramount Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

After breaking up with her fiancé Ben (Cooper), Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) embarks on a road trip, only to get into a car accident and awaken chained to a pipe inside a bunker owned by the mysterious Howard Stambler (John Goodman), who claims there was some type of attack on the US. The film follows Michelle as she keeps trying to escape.

Ben doesn't ever appear on screen — Cooper has a voice cameo only.

Kevin Maher of The Times called it a "wildly entertaining genre mash-up."

2 (tie). "Silver Linings Playbook" (2012)
Silver Linings Playbook
"Silver Linings Playbook."

The Weinstein Company.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Cooper plays Pat, a man with bipolar disorder who leaves a mental health facility after an eight-month stay, while Lawrence plays Tiffany, a young widow with an unspecified mood disorder. The two connect after they meet at a dinner at Tiffany's sister's house, and the film follows their relationship as it grows throughout a football season.

"It's a rom-com that succeeds in revitalizing that discredited genre where so many others have failed, injecting it with the grit and emotion of realist drama rather than with amped-up whimsy or social satire or montages of people walking on the beach," wrote Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.

2 (tie). "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy
"Guardians of the Galaxy"."

Marvel Studios

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Five criminals — Gamora, Peter Quill, Drax, Groot, and Rocket played by Zoe Saldaña, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Cooper — come together to keep a destructive stone out of the wrong hands and become a family along the way.

According to Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair, "'Guardians' bounces with the energy of pure invention."

2 (tie). "American Hustle" (2013)
american hustle
"American Hustle."

Columbia Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Irving and Evelyn (Christian Bale and Amy Adams) are con artists who devise a scheme with Richie (Cooper), an FBI agent, to help keep themselves out of prison and implicate the mayor of Camden, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), in illegal activities. The film is based on the actual 1970s FBI Abscam sting operation.

"It's a sly film that slips through your fingers, leaving the glitter of great performances, but one you'll be hustling to watch again," wrote Metro's Larushka Ivan-Zadeh.

1. "Avengers: Endgame" (2019)
avengers endgame rocket thor asgard
Thor and Rocket in "Avengers: Endgame."

Disney/Marvel

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

After the tragic events of "Infinity War," the Avengers work together to bring back everyone they've lost in the best-reviewed movie of Cooper's career.

"The only complaint about 'Avengers: Endgame' is that it raises the bar so high that there may well never be a superhero movie to match it," wrote The London Evening Standard's Matthew Norman.

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