20 Sober Celebrities Who Say Quiting Drinking Changed Their Lives Forever

Jimmy Henton

Health experts recommend people drink a healthy amount of alcohol. Alcohol use is the seventh leading risk factor for premature death worldwide. But not everyone follows that expert's guide. Maybe, some people stay away from alcohol for their entire life. But some are addicted to alcohol. And celebrities are no exception. In Hollywood, many famous people have died from alcohol abuse, such as actor and comedian Verne Troyer, Singer Dolores O'Riordan, and musician and actor David Cassidy.
However, some celebrities decided to quit alcohol before it was too late. From kit Harrington to Jennifer Lopez, they have been open about their drinking habits and why they adopt an alcohol-free lifestyle. Anyway, it's always a challenge for these celebrities to ditch the booze.
Below are 24 celebrities who decided to say goodbye to drinking habits to change their lives.

#1 Daniel Radcliffe

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The Harry Potter star talked about his alcohol abuse which nearly destroyed his life. "I definitely think a lot of the drinking that happened towards the end of Potter, and for a little bit after it finished, it was panic and not knowing what to do next, and not being comfortable enough in who I was to remain sober."
Speaking about his decision to go sober, he said that it was weird to stop drinking at a very young age. But he was happy about it. "But I will always be fascinated and frustrated by the question of, 'is this something that would have happened anyway, or was this to do with Potter?’", he said.

#2 Miley Cyrus

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The talented singer has spoken out about her alcohol addiction. But Miley became sober in June 2020. 
"I’ve been sober for the past six months. At the beginning, it was just about this vocal surgery... It’s really hard, especially being [sober and] young, there’s that stigma of 'you’re no fun' [but] it’s like, 'Honey, you can call me a lot of things, but I know that I’m fun."
"I don’t want to wake up feeling groggy. I want to wake up feeling ready.", she added.

#3 Nicki Minaj

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Nicki Minaj shares her story on Twitter that she decides to ditch the booze. Some people might not believe in her. Like, a follower asked her a weird question: “Are you high?”. She responded: “No I’m sober and loving life”. She also added “ "I used to b[e] happy when I was high. Now I’m happy when I’m sober. No judgment to anyone. Be gentle with yourself."
"When I look at my son, I’m reminded that I am so blessed.", She continued.

#4 Kat Von D

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Amazingly, Kat Von D has been sober for 13 years. She told The Fix, "One of the biggest reasons for me to stop drinking was to preserve and protect my art… More than just having the chemical addiction, I was addicted to dysfunction. A lot of musicians and writers and poets from back in the day until now have used dysfunction as a muse. I don’t want to be that person anymore.”
Her decision really changed her life. "I never imagined I would be excited about being sober. When you're on the other side of things, you have such a profoundly different perspective on life… Personally, being sober means that I operate better and I function better; I believe I'm meant to be this way."

#5 Bella Hadid

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Model Bella Hadid has spoken out about her mental health issues. She decided to go sober to take over her problems. Bella also shared her alcohol-free journey.  "I have done my fair share of drinking. I loved alcohol and it got to the point where even I started to, you know, cancel nights out that I felt like I wouldn't be able to control myself on... I [now] drink [Kin Spritz] when I have crippling anxiety and I can't leave my house, or when I'm not gonna drink alcohol but still want to loosen up and be able to speak to people and socialize."
She continued, "I don't feel the need [to drink alcohol now] because I know how it will affect me at 3 in the morning when I wake up with horrible anxiety, thinking about that one thing I said five years ago when I graduated high school. There's just this never-ending effect of, essentially, you know, pain and stress over those few drinks that didn't do much, you know?"

#6 Jada Pinkett Smith

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A report by Contact Music said Jada came home and saw two bottles of wine on the couch. She realized her problems from that moment. 
"I found myself drinking two bottles of wine on the couch and I said, 'Jada, I think we've got a problem here.' I had problems with alcohol and I really had to get in contact with the pain, whatever that is, and then I had to get some other tools on how to deal with the pain. From that day on I went cold turkey.", Jada said.

#7 Jennifer Lopez

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Jennifer Lopez says she rarely drinks alcohol. But when it damaged her skin, she admitted, "I think it ruins your skin," she said in an InStyle interview. Of course, during celebratory toasts, everybody's like, 'You can't toast with water!' So I'll toast with alcohol and just take a sip."

#8 Drew Barrymore

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The actor Drew Barrymore has been sober for 2 years. She faced alcohol abuse issues when she was a teenager. 
Recently, In the TV host Gayle King's interview, Drew revealed that she had been stuck in a bad cycle. When you are stuck in a pattern, or if you are going through things and you not only admit them out loud, but you force yourself to say, 'I'm willing to make big changes... I think we all think we're very weak when we don't make those changes [but when we do, that's where the empowerment comes in]."
She continued,  "I just want to p this out and go about this with no profession, no public anything, and now it's been long enough where I'm in a lifestyle that I know is working on a high road for my little journey, and there's so much peace finally being had where there were demons."

#9 Bradley Cooper

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Bradley Cooper revealed his reason for going sober on The Hollywood Reporter. He wanted to achieve as much as he could in his life. "I don't drink or do drugs anymore. I realized I wasn't going to live up to my potential, and that scared the hell out of me. I thought, 'Wow, I'm actually gonna ruin my life. I'm really gonna ruin it.”

#10 Jessica Simpson

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Former reality TV star, Jessica Simpson, spoke to her 5.6M Instagram followers, "This person in the early morning of Nov 1, 2017, is an unrecognizable version of myself. I had so much self-discovery to unlock and explore."
Jessica went on to explain how alcohol ruin her mental health for a long time. Then, she had always been exhausted before she decided to stop drinking alcohol 4 years later.  "I didn’t love myself. I didn’t respect my power. Today I do... I own my power with soulful courage. I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free."

#11 Leona Lewis

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The X Factor winner said she hates the taste of alcohol when she realizes how much she had lost in her life. "I don't drink - I hate the taste of alcohol," she told When my debut single [Bleeding Love] went to No.1, I celebrated with non-alcoholic champagne."

#12 Kristin Davis

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The Sex and the City star decided to ditch the booze after she realizes it was destroying her acting career. She told Marie Claire UK, "I realized it was not going to end well. I got into the acting program, it was very challenging, I was hungover and I wasn't doing so well in my classes. I thought, 'Do you know what? It's going to be one or the other. I can't really have both.”

#13 Fearne Cotton

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Fearne Cotton faced a lot of anxiety and poor self-esteem when she was an alcohol addict. "I haven’t been drunk for nearly two years... My husband doesn’t drink so it’s not like we’re cracking open bottles of Pinot Grigio at home, we don’t have alcohol in the house," she said in an interview with The Mirror back in 2016.

#14 Kit Harrington

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The Game of Thrones star has opened out about his alcohol addiction.  In an interview with The Sunday Times, he revealed he got that issue while both filming the TV show and wrapping it. "I went through some pretty horrible stuff," Kit explained, referencing his very intense periods of depression. "Things that have happened to me since Thrones ended, and that were happening during Thrones, were pretty traumatic and they did include alcohol. You get to a place where you feel like you are a bad person, you feel like you are a shameful person. And you feel that there’s no way out, that’s just who you are."
But he changed his mind to break the negative thinking of  “a leopard never changes its spots”.  Getting sober is the process of going, 'No, I can change'," Kit said. "One of my favorite things I learned recently is that the expression 'a leopard doesn’t change its spots' is completely false: a leopard does change its spots. It helped. That was something I kind of clung to; the idea that I could make this huge fundamental change in who I was and how I went about my life."

#15 Blake Lively

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Drinking habits cost Blake Lively too much that she decided to stay away from it forever. The Gossip Girl said to Allure magazine in 2012, "I don't drink. I've never tried a drug... it's not like I decided on these strict lifestyle choices and I'm enforcing them. It's just something that I genuinely don't have a desire for."

#16 Lily Allen

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Congratulations Lily Allen on her alcohol-free journey! The singer shared a bunch of glowing photos on Instagram and wrote, "1 year completely sober! So grateful for my health and happiness." 
Lily used to drink a bottle of Grey Goose vodka a day. Now, she successfully stays away from alcohol.

#17 Jennifer Hudson

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Jennifer Hudson revealed she has never loved drinking alcohol, but nobody trusts these words. "I’ve never had a drink in my life. I’m sober. Normally as an actor, you have things to pull from. [But when playing a heroin addict] I was like, ‘I don’t know what it’s like to feel any of that.” I’ve never been interested [in alcohol]. Nobody ever believes it…"

#18 Naomi Campbell

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In an interview with Vogue UK, the supermodel Naomi Campbell revealed that she had failed to control her drinking habit. She looked in the mirror and saw nothing like herself.
 "The time between 1998 and 2005 was especially bad. 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."
Now, Naomi stays healthy and keeps sharing her experiences with both drugs and alcohol to help people.

#19 Eva Mendes

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Eva Mendes shared her experience with her mental health issue. In an interview, she said that choosing to go teetotal needs more support in Hollywood. 
 "The other day I was reading an article. I don’t even remember who the actress was, but she’s been around for a long time. She said something like, 'I’m proud that I’ve had a whole career without making it to rehab.' That’s such a negative twist on it. I’m proud of people who have the determination and the fearlessness to actually go and face their demons and get better. This is a life or death situation. I’m not a spokesperson, but I want to support people for their decisions when they do go in and get help.", she revealed. 

#20 Rumer Willis

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"My decision to become sober wasn’t out of a need necessarily, it was more just that I did ‘sober January’ and I just decided to keep going,"  Rumer Willis told People back in 2017. It’s always fair to Rumer. Sometimes taking a break allows people to realize they don't miss alcohol so much after all.