Famous Alcoholics
 

I was just wondering how many famous alkies or at least addmitted alkies there are out there. I remember hearing that Brett Favre was an alcoholic.
Who do you all know of?

Raymond Carver (got clean). Stephen King (got clean). There's a famous golfer...I can't remember his name right now, Daly? Sound familiar? Chris Mullins (ex-NBA player, got clean). I know a ton more...I'm just having a mind freeze.

maybe I am being inappropriate...but there are a bunch of people right here at SR who have beaten addictions and have become inspirations to many and helped many others in their recovery. I consider that an admirable kind of famous!

I have to agree. Anyone who gets sober is an inspiration to me. I'm just sort of suprised at myself that everytime I'd hear someone was a recovering alcoholic, even before I admitted to myself I had a problem, I would store it away in my memory and be sort of facsinated by it. Odd how the mind of an alcoholic works. I was probably unconciously looking to them for some sort of inspiration, since I really had no one to look up to in read life. One of the many reasons I'm glad I found then place.

Larry Hagman? He actually received a new liver (from what I heard) and then started drinking again. Not sure if that's true or not.

hi , Robbie Williams.....mmmmm. and of course all the struggleing and recovering addicts.
Still i Rise................

That article you "heard", you READ in the National Enquiror. It is completely bogus. And in case you are shocked, or confused, EVERYTHING in the tabloids is bogus--pure trash. Larry Hagman is alive and well, and has not started drinking again.

So Frito, he's a close personal friend of yours? lol

I didn't read it in the Enquirer actually. A friend of mine's husband has hepatitis and needs a new liver and she had mentioned that Hagman got a new one and then was caught drinking again.

But as I told the group, I am not sure if its true and this group is certainly intelligent enough to understand what that means.

GJ

Buktrouble - are you talking about that golfer, John Daly? Wasn't that his name?

Daisy - you go, girl. :cool:

Yeah...at least I think that's who I'm talking about. i'm not that big on golf and besides Tiger Woods, he's probably the only name of a golfer that's stuck in my head, and probably only because I had heard he was a recovering alcoholic.

If you look into his history you will find that our president of the United States is a recovering alcoholic. He dosn't talk about it on national tv of course b/c of the controversy it would cause him. But the information is there if you choose to look for it. Is that famous enough for you.

In our Nrecomers there is a thread...
Famous People

if you want more onfo.

O and lets not forget Brett Butler she is awesome, and Robert downey Junior I think he finally got it this time. His struggle has been a hard one, much like mine was. These people are no different than we who are not famous, they have the same struggles, their fame and fortune actually makes it harder for them. Think about it, They end up in the Headlines of the papers, b/c they are famous and you know we got to know their buisness. Plus they have more money to bail themselves out and buy more drugs and alcohol so they don't seem to feel the pain as soon as I did living in my car with no money and no gas and no food. See what I mean. I would have probably ended up dead if I had been famous. Thank God I wasn't. Being famous dosn't keep them sober. They don't have any better chance at sobriety than we do. Love to all Debs

John Daly may or may not be an alcoholic. But he does drink.

Stephen King has always inspired me. I know his stories can be dark, but if he wouldn't have opened up the darkest parts of himself - he wouldn't have been able to write so many neat novels. His openess about his past addictions is very refreshing to me.

That was what was scariest to me about The Shining. Not the ghosts, but the father's alcoholism and being secluded out in the middle of no where with his family.

Have you read The Dark Tower series daisy ? I'm re-reading it for the umpteenth time, the last installment. If you read carefully, there's program ALL over the place. He actually uses "right sized" and other catch phrases......

Ive played with John Daly I know which way I'm voting.John is holic put what ever you want in front of it.You should see him gamble WHOA. He a great guy.I had a ball with him.

I haven't yet no! It's on my list :)

Kemal Atatürk - 10 November 1938, president of Turkey[citation needed]
Florence Ballard - 22 February 1976, singer
John Barrymore - 29 May 1942, actor
Brendan Behan - 20 March 1964, writer
Bix Beiderbecke - 6 August 1931, musician
George Best - 25 November 2005, football player
Robert Buck - 19 December 2000, musician
Richard Burton - 5 August 1984, actor
David Byron - 28 February 1985, musician
Truman Capote - 25 August 1984, writer
Raymond Chandler 26 March 1959, writer
Peter Cook 9 January 1995 English comedian
Michael Elphick 7 September 2002, actor
F. Scott Fitzgerald - 21 December 1940, writer
Errol Flynn - 14 October 1959, actor
Alexander Godunov - 18 May 1995, dancer/actor
Patrick Hamilton - 23 September 1962, writer
William Rowan Hamilton, mathematician
Powers Hapgood - 4 February 1949, American labor activist
Lorenz Hart - 22 November 1943, lyricist
Ira Hayes - 24 January 1955, war hero
Ernest Hemingway - 2 July 1961, writer
O. Henry - June 5, 1910, American short story writer
William Holden - 12 November 1981, actor
Billie Holiday - 17 July 1959, singer
Phil Katz - 14 April 2000, computer programmer
Jack Kerouac - 21 October 1969, writer
Veronica Lake - 7 July 1973, actress
Kevin Lloyd - 2 May 1998, actor
Joseph McCarthy - 2 May 1957, politician
David McComb - 2 February 1999, musician
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - 8 March 1973, musician
Clyde McPhatter - 13 June 1972, R&B singer
Grace Metalious - 25 February 1964, writer
Jim Morrison - July 3, 1971, musician
Modest Mussorgsky - 28 March 1881, composer
Franklin Pierce - 8 October 1869, U.S. President
Edgar Allan Poe - 7 October 1849, writer
Jackson Pollock - 11 August 1956, artist
Oliver Reed - May 2, 1999,Actor
Jean Stafford - 26 March 1979, writer
James Grover Thurber 1961 cartoonist and writer
Hank Williams - 1 January 1953, musician
Lester Young - 15 March 1959, musician
Townes Van Zandt - 1 January 1997, musician
Brian Connolly - 9 February 1997, singer
W.C. Fields - 25 December 1946, Actor


All dead from alcohol.

Basketball players and Booze:

Chris Mullin (already mentioned) was approached by his then coach, Don Nelson, about his drinking. He cleaned himself up and made the allstar team several years in a row, and the 1992 Dream Team with Bird, Magic, Jordan, etc.

This was after he damn near drank his way out of the league. Talk about a powerful disease! Ironically his coach is infamous for after hours bar crawling in NBA circles.

Another basketball player, I don't know if he was alcoholic but he gave up alcohol for his career, was Boston Celtic center Robert Parrish.

John Drew, an NBA player for several years, was al alkie and drug addict, despite a multimillion dollar career. Charles Barkley writes about running into him living on the street (in Atlanta, I believe) and gave him all the money in his pocket, about $600. Charles says he has no idea where John Drew is today. They played in college together.

Eddie Griffin has already drank his way out of the NBA, and he is only 25. He played at Seton Hall in college and the MN in the NBA.

Chris Washburn from NC state was a 7' althetic specimen widely thought to have the potential be the next great player when we was drafted in 1986. He had already shown his alcoholic tendencies and as a result was not drafted until 4th, even though he was clearly the top talent that year. He drank and drugged his way out of the league in 3 years. Scottie Pippen said he was the most talented player he had ever played against. In case you are not much of a basketball fan, Scottie Pippen played with and against Michael Jordan, who I am sure you have heard of.

Obviously I am a basketball fan, and it is sad that some of these incredibly talented people did not make anything out of their talent.

It is equally sad for all of the nameless drunks and addicts out there that didn't live up to their potential in their chosen careers, or as fathers/mothers, etc.

Good thread.