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Lucy Hale opened up about her journey to sobriety, revealing what has been the “biggest gift” from the process. The 35-year-old actress decided to stop drinking alcohol on January 2, 2022. More than two years later, she explained what it was like “hitting rock bottom” to make that decision. She also shared what had been her “North Star” through the worst of her experience with addiction. Speaking to People, Lucy said that she was surprised to speak candidly about “things that used to bring me so much shame.” “But when I began speaking about it, it came from a place of needing to heal and take my power back,” she said. In fact, Lucy said that “feeling seen” by people with similar experiences was “the biggest gift.” Reflecting on her early struggles with addiction, Lucy said that she “always felt alone and misunderstood.” “So as a teenager, I found alcohol — which of course shut my brain off,” she said. “And it worked for me for a while, until it turned really dark.” Becoming addicted left her feeling “powerless to this obsession.” “I definitely had to go through my own process of getting sober. It took many, many, many years, many relapses, many dark moments, many falling on my face quite literally, but figuratively as well to figure out what was working in my life, finding out why I was drinking, because removing alcohol is just one part of it,” she explained. Through it all, her career was her “North Star.” Though it was also a bit of a double-edged sword. “It really gave me purpose, and still gives me purpose. But I was constantly in this cycle of extreme depression and anxiety while having to show up to work and be on. And that ‘being on’ fueled even more drinking… I was caught in this cycle that I couldn’t get out of,” Lucy said. “Hitting rock bottom” helped her take necessary steps. “I made the choice on the morning of January 2, 2022 that I was going to do everything I could to get sober,” she said. “I knew if I continued on that path, I would’ve lost everything I cared about. It was the scariest choice in my life, but also it’s been the best gift. When I made that change, everything else changed. My whole life has changed.”
