Country Singer Chris Stapleton Reveals Why He Got Sober Without Rehab
By Movieguide® Contributor
Country star Chris Stapleton revealed why he decided to get sober after turning to alcohol to help him write songs “authentically.”
“I like to tell people that I got into a drinking contest with myself in my 20s, and I lost,” Stapleton told GQ. “When you’re younger, you feel like you have to do certain things in order to occupy some of these spaces, to make yourself feel like you’re legit. You want to feel things. You want to be able to write about things authentically.”
“If somebody working a different kind of job drank themselves to death in the name of being better at a job, it wouldn’t make sense to anybody,” he continued. “We wouldn’t say, ‘Oh he must have been the greatest electrician who ever lived.’”
Stapleton has been sober for multiple years now, a feat that he has achieved without entering rehab. Instead, he realized what he was doing to himself and decided that things were going to change.
He explained, “I didn’t have to go to rehab, but from a 45-year-old-man health perspective, a doctor’s gonna look at me and go, ‘Hey, man, probably cut out the drinking,’ and I’d be like, ‘Okay, cool.’”
While Stapleton didn’t seek professional help when overcoming his alcoholism, he is all for therapy. He and his wife began seeking a therapist during the pandemic, and now he works to break the stigma around asking for help.
“[Therapy] was a way to kind of help us navigate what the world was, what that meant for our family, to our business,” he explained.
In his upcoming album, “Higher,” Stapleton gets candid about the highs and lows he has experienced, leading fans through much of his career.
Movieguide® previously reported on Stapleton:
Country music star and now named entertainer of the year at the 2023 Country Music Awards, Chris Stapleton decided to stay behind to help clean up after the ACM awards.
No matter how many awards Stapleton has won, he has always been known for his compassion and servant’s heart.
In a completely impromptu moment as Stapleton and his team were exiting Ford Center, a photo of Stapleton was captured still in his suit, jeans and jacket. With a leaf blower in hand, Stapleton was spotted clearing out the confetti that was left near the stage following the awards ceremony.
Photographer for Getty Images, John Shearer posted the photo on his Instagram page writing, “Entertainer of the Year Chris Stapleton, photographed at the end of the night at the “58th Academy Of Country Music Awards” in Frisco, TX. @GettyImages#LeicaQ2”
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