Lucy Hale Speaks About Her Two-Year Sobriety Journey on The Drew Barrymore Show
Lucy Hale became a household name when she starred in Pretty Little Liars. Recently, she welcomed the year by sharing her two-year journey of sobriety on The Drew Barrymore Show.
The daytime talk show released a teaser clip where the 34-year-old actress and the 48-year-old Drew discussed their drinking problems.
Lucy was there to promote her new movie, Which Brings Me To You, which stars Nat Wolff. During their conversation, Drew mentioned that Lucy was on Alex Cooper’s podcast, Call Her Daddy. During that episode, Lucy talked about getting sober.
Lucy, who played the role of Aria Montgomery in Pretty Little Liars, previously admitted that she began drinking when she was 14 years old. In an article with Today from 2023, the actress said that she had never been a “normal moderate drinker.” Fortunately, she has been sober for two years since January 2, 2022.
Drew responded by sharing her own story, “I stopped drinking, alcohol was my poison. I’m not sober. I don’t work a program, but it’s alcohol for me, and I didn’t say anything. Funny enough, it was Gayle King who got it out of me.”
Lucy asked Drew if she was ready to talk about her drinking problem or if it was just something that came out after Lucy admitted to hitting her two-year mark.
Lucy described the important milestone by saying, “Something happens at the two-year, at least for me, I think.” She recalled her first year of sobriety, “I feel like the first year I was like, ‘Okay stay safe, stay home.’ Certain elements of my life fell away; new people came into my life.”
Moving on to her second year of sobriety, Lucy narrated how she had to revisit her concept of having a good time. “But I felt like my second year I learned, I was having fun, I gave a new definition to fun. It just looks different these days. I was going out, going to the dinners, going to events. I wasn’t avoiding anything,” she revealed.
To which, Drew responded, “Having a revelation right now, which is listening to your story, I’m wondering if when you have a behavior that you know is not serving you, I think we lose trust in ourselves that we’re never going to break that cycle.”
Drew spoke about her own two-year sobriety, describing it as a period when she learned to begin trusting herself again. She commented, “You saying what you’re saying is making me think maybe that’s a good time to put it out into the world to your peers, to other people, to plant that flag in the sand when you’ve earned time and trust.”
Lucy replied, “And you can trust your choices. I think for me, it was, ‘Oh, I just feel safe in my body again.’ I wouldn’t give this feeling up for anything.”
Drew expressed her gratitude for Lucy’s openness, stating, “The fact that you talk so openly about this there’s no telling how many people you’ve helped. You’ve inspired me.”
