Dave Hughes has opened up about his journey to sobriety.
In an interview with FARE (the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education) as part of its Voices of Change series, Hughes revealed how he quit alcohol more than three decades ago after starting binge drinking when he was just a teenager.
‘From the age of 15 to the age of 21, I would get blackout drunk on the weekends, or whenever I had the opportunity,’ confessed the 52-year-old comedian.
Dave Hughes has opened up about his journey to sobriety. In an interview with FARE (the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education), Hughes revealed he quit alcohol more than three decades ago after starting binge drinking when he was just a teenager
‘You put yourself in such a vulnerable position. I used to get locked up a bit. I was never violent, but I would get found in the bloody street a mess, lying on the ground or something and I would end up in the clink.’
Hughes said his wake-up call came when he was 22 and he realised his behaviour had become ‘very dangerous’, so he decided to stop drinking.
‘It was around the end of October one year, and I basically thought to myself, “I don’t want to do this anymore,”‘ he added, recalling his original plan was to quit booze until Christmas Eve.
Hughes (pictured on May 6, 2007) previously told Daily Mail Australia that quitting alcohol and marijuana in the early ’90s made his life ‘so much better’
But when the holidays rolled around, he remembered how much better he felt when he didn’t drink, so he committed himself to never drinking again.
‘I was very unsettled. Stopping drinking definitely helped me focus 100 per cent,’ he said.
When it comes to being sober in social situations, Hughes admitted it was tough at first, but his friends and family were very supportive.
‘You do feel pressure certainly in social situations, especially when you first start to stop,’ he said.
‘From the age of 15 to the age of 21, I would get blackout drunk on the weekends, or whenever I had the opportunity,’ confessed the 52-year-old comedian
When it comes to being sober in social situations, Hughes admitted it was tough at first, but his friends and family were very supportive. (Pictured with his wife Holly Ife)
‘People look at you weird because you’re not drinking. They wonder why – but I was able to get through that.’
The 2Day FM radio host also saw huge changes in his mental health after getting sober, not to mention his improved physical well-being.
Hughes told Daily Mail Australia in 2020 that his uncertainty over how his mind and body would react to alcohol after years of sobriety had kept him firmly on the wagon.
To illustrate this point, he recalled a conversation he had years earlier with his wife Holly Ife, who is the mother of his three children, Tess, Sadie and Rafferty.
The 2Day FM radio host also saw huge changes in his mental health after getting sober, not to mention his improved physical well-being
‘Holly reminded me of a conversation we’d had when we’d just started going out 17 years ago,’ he said at the time.
‘She apparently said to me, “What do you think would happen if you drank again? Would you be a raging alcoholic?”
‘I replied that I didn’t know, possibly not. But since I’d decided not to drink, my life had got so much better that I didn’t want to risk it.
‘It still holds true today, and that’s why I don’t drink.’
Hughes (pictured with his wife Holly Ife) previously said his uncertainty over how his mind and body would react to alcohol after almost three decades of sobriety had kept him on the wagon
Hughes added that his willpower never faltered, even during the difficult early years of his recovery.
‘I was really strong,’ he said. ‘It was a real light bulb moment when I decided, “No, I’m not going to drink anymore.”
‘I honestly believe the decision to stop smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol is what really turned me around… the decision to stop doing those two things means that I’m having the happy life I’m having.
‘I really think they were the biggest and the best decisions I have ever made.’
In 2018, Hughes had his first ‘beer’ in 25 years: a non-alcoholic Asahi Dry Zero.
‘I’m very much an advocate for no-alcohol beer, it makes me feel like I’m back hanging out with the boys drinking lager, but without any of the side effects – the bad side effects,’ he said at the time.
In 2018, Hughes had his first ‘beer’ in 25 years: a non-alcoholic Asahi Dry Zero
The stand-up comic has previously spoken about how drinking had affected his mental health in his youth, leading to depression. (Pictured on Hey Hey It’s Saturday in 1998)
The stand-up comic has previously spoken about how drinking had affected his mental health in his youth.
He experienced depression and even feared he had schizophrenia.
But when it comes to his own children drinking when they’re older, Hughes insisted he wouldn’t be too strict with them.
‘Hopefully they see the example that I lead – that you can have fun without drinking or without drugs. So hopefully they see that, but they’ll make their own decisions,’ he said.
‘I’m certainly not going to ban them from drinking or anything, within reason.’
- If you, or someone you know, would like to talk to someone confidentially about addiction, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit Reach Out
- In an emergency, call Triple Zero
Dave and Holly’s children, Tess, Sadie, and Rafferty, know all about his ‘wayward younger days’, but he won’t forbid them to drink alcohol when they’re older
‘I’m certainly not going to ban them from drinking or anything, within reason,’ he said
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk