Valerie Bertinelli, Elle MacPherson, Brad Pitt, Rob Lowe explain how sobriety changed their lives
Valerie Bertinelli has joined the long list of stars who have decided to leave the party life behind.
After successfully completing Dry January, when she abstains from alcohol for an entire month, Bertinelli decided to change her lifestyle and is approaching her one-year sobriety milestone. The Food Network star gave up alcohol for two reasons.
“I decided to go to Dry January. I like it so far,” Bertinelli announced on her Instagram story at the time. “I do it for two reasons. One, I want to try to reduce my sugar cravings. And I think alcohol makes it worse.”
From left to right, Valerie Bertinelli, Brad Pitt, Elle MacPherson and Rob Lowe enter 2025 committed to their sobriety. (Getty Images)
Second, she said, “I want to calm down the cortisol in my body that’s been raging for the last five, six years. I’ve been in fight, flight, freeze, brown mode. And I want to rest and digest,” she shared. “I think giving up alcohol will help me with that.”
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A month later, Bertinelli revealed a positive effect it resulted: she lost weight.
Valerie Bertinelli participated in Dry January at the beginning of 2024. (Unique Nikol)
“So here’s a nice little side effect of dry January,” she said in a video posted on TikTok. “These jeans I’m wearing were so tight a few months ago I couldn’t zip them up comfortably. Now they’re so baggy it’s time to go down a size.”
Below is a look at other stars who have stayed sober for years.
Elle MacPherson
In 2023, supermodel Elle MacPherson celebrated her 20th anniversary of sobriety.
ELLE MACPHERSON ‘NEVER REGRETTED’ GETTING SOBER 20 YEARS AGO
In a conversation with an Australian magazine Body + Soul in November 2023, Macpherson spoke about the decision to get sober in 2003, saying “it was a wonderful springboard to getting to know myself on a deeper level.”
Elle MacPherson has been sober since 2003. (Gisela Schober/Getty Images)
She went on to say that it was a decision she never regretted.
“Although it required discipline and persistence, the bottom line is that you can’t be well and present in your life if you’re not present and well, and alcohol doesn’t really support that. It’s very hard to know yourself if you’re numbing yourself.”
MacPherson isn’t the only star who’s been decades sober.
Rob Lowe
In May 2023. Rob Lowe celebrated his 33rd anniversary of sobriety, writing on Instagram about how “grateful” he is to have “found recovery and the tribe that kept him going” on his road to recovery.
“If you or someone you know is struggling with any form of addiction: hope and joy await if you want it and are willing to work for it,” he added.
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Lowe previously spoke on Variety 2021 about the origins of his addiction, explaining that he started drinking when he was a teenager and that his addiction worsened when he started acting and was introduced to drugs. He got sober in 1990.
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“Nothing can make you get sober other than wanting to,” he told the news outlet. “The threat of losing your marriage, losing your job, being locked up—whatever you call the threat, it’s not going to be enough to do it. It has to be inside you. The reason people don’t get sober 100% of the time when they get into programs is because people aren’t ready when they start using the tools .”
Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper talked about his journey to sobriety during an appearance on the sequel “Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge” 2023 During the episode, he revealed that he has been sober since he was 29, calling himself “lucky”.
Bradley Cooper stopped drinking alcohol when he was 29 years old. (Jamie McCarthy)
During the episode, Cooper told Bear Grylls how his previous experience battling addiction helped him relate to his character on “A Star Is Born.”
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“It was easier to actually be able to get in there,” he said on the show. “And thank God I was at a place in my life where I was comfortable with all of that, so I could really let go. I’ve been very lucky with the roles I’ve had to play. It’s been a real blessing. I hope that I keep doing it.”
Brad Pitt
After Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt In 2016, the actor sobered up. He said The New York Times in September 2019, “I took things as far as I could, so I revoked my drinking privileges.”
During his speech at the 2020 National Board of Review Awards for his role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Pitt credited Cooper because he helped him get sober, saying that “he’s been happier every day since.”
In an interview from June 2022 with GQ, Pitt talked about how Alcoholics Anonymous helped him.
Brad Pitt got sober in 2016 after filing for divorce from Angelina Jolie. (Presley Ann)
“I had a really cool men’s group here that was really private and selective, so it was safe,” he told the news outlet. “Because I’ve seen other people’s stuff that’s been recorded talking about themselves, and it’s just horrible to me.”
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In that interview, Pitt also said he quit smoking cigarettes during the pandemic, saying, “I don’t have the ability to just smoke one or two a day.” In 2023 Pitt launched a new gin but he is reportedly still sober.
