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Celebrity

25th Jan 2024

Marian Keyes’ powerful words as she marks 30 years of sobriety

Kat O'Connor

Marian Keyes penned a moving post to mark the momentous milestone

Marian Keyes is one of the best female authors on this island. Her books are absolute magic, but her honesty is even more special.

The Irish author has always been incredibly honest about her mental health, as well as her struggle with alcohol.

This year, Keyes marked 30 years of sobriety and has been discussing the milestone most refreshingly.

The author explained that she was devastated when she had to give up alcohol because it felt like her “only friend”.

Keyes said: “I loved it fiercely and felt it was my only friend. Facing a life without it, I thought I’d be better off dead.

“Help was offered to me, lots of it; grudgingly I accepted it. With a lot of ill-will, I did the suggested things to keep me away from a drink and to become open to change.”

Keyes said she had a realisation as the “sober seconds of my life began to stack up”.

She said she only really started to live when she became sober.

“I (slowly) started to grow up, to take responsibility for myself and to be less harsh to myself and every other person,” she said.

Keyes said she’s made millions of mistakes throughout her life because “I’m human and very flawed”.

She admitted she would be dead if she had continued drinking, a harrowing fact that has made us even more grateful that she’s here today.

Giving up drink gave Keyes her life back and that’s something so incredible.

“If I’d kept drinking I’d probably be dead by now. Instead, I’m alive, I’m in the flow of life, I love a LOT of people and get joy from SO much.”

Keyes’ powerful words have shown us just how strong she is and proved that things can always turn around, even when things feel so heavy and dark.

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Marian Keyes