Actor Celebrates 22 Years of Sobriety: ‘God Is Real’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Russell Brand celebrated 22 years of sobriety and offered a message of hope for anybody currently struggling with addiction, encouraging them that they can find freedom.
“Today I’m 22 years sober, one day at a time,” Brand shared. “And it’s been a really, really intense, mad, difficult year. Loads of things have happened, loads of them are public things, loads are personal things that involve my family, involve my little son and what he’s been through.”
“What the great gift of recovery is, is the ability to know and practice that the spiritual life has to come first and the most important thing in your life is the way you serve other people,” he continued. “It is not easy to stay out of the material world. It is not easy to live without drinking and drugs. It is not easy to avoid distraction and attraction and seduction.”
He told fans in 2019 that “It is possible to live differently if you are a drug addict,” and his message today is the same.
“But I suppose what my message is you have a problem with drugs or alcohol or any aspect of addiction, a solution is available one day at a time. And if you’re struggling, there’s a way out of that struggle,” Brand continued. “God is real, and the things in your life that feel like punishments are lessons and they are opportunities to move closer to God. And the closer you get to God, the more beautiful life can be. Thank you to everyone from the people at the treatment center where I got clean 22 years ago to all of the people in groups of drunks and drug addicts that have helped me on this journey.”
Brand’s journey has been incredible. He lived a life of debauchery and selfishness for years after breaking into Hollywood. However, 22 years ago, he realized that life was leaving him empty which is why he pursued freedom from it.
“I felt like there was something wrong with me,” he shared previously. “And, I think a lot of addicts would identify with that.”
While he has resisted the temptation to rejoin that life, he took a major step this year when he became a Christian.
READ MORE: RUSSELL BRAND IS ‘IN THE BUSINESS’ OF SERVING JESUS
That decision has allowed him to better understand why living life for others is so fulfilling and how focusing on service makes a life of debauchery even less appealing. He has walked his fans through his conversion to faith and has helped millions better understand what it means to be a faithful follower of Christ.
READ MORE: RUSSELL BRAND INTERPRETS IMPORTANT BIBLE VERSE