Emmerdale star Lisa Riley has been inundated with messages of support as she marked a major milestone this week, celebrating nine years since going sober and feeling ‘free’ for it.
Soap favourite Lisa Riley has been celebrating nine years sober this week, with the actress sharing a poignant post to Instagram on the anniversary. Famous for portraying the feisty Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale, she first graced our screens back in 1995 and is now a central figure in the show, recently being spotlighted with Mandy’s marriage to Paddy Kirk.
Away from the Emmerdale Village drama, Lisa often keeps her fans up to date with her real life on social media. And this week, she opened up about feeling ‘free’ since ditching alcohol. The star wrote: “9 YEARS SOBER TODAY. 9 years of filling my cup with anything other than alcohol…When I decided to go sober, I never knew how long it would last, feeling pressures from others as to why! ! !”
“Well here’s why…I feel FANTASTIC, I feel FREE, I don’t feel FAKE, I’m so much more HAPPY in my life, and I surround myself with POSITIVITY not diluted drivel and endless drama…To everyone (you know who you are) who support me constantly, I love you…cheers with a cup of tea.”
Lisa’s candid update garnered a wave of online support, with stars such as her Emmerdale co-star Karen Blick and Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid commenting. Looking for advice, one fan commented: “Many congrats Lisa. I’m trying to go sober but struggling. Any tips you can share? X”
The actress responded as she advised: “Only do it, because you want to do it, and then you won’t fall. It’s the absolute truth-it’s worked for me.” When the user replied that they struggled with temptation, Lisa added: “Well when people said that to me about temptation…..it’s really simple, you are driving this car, so don’t park in the temptation car park. It’s easier that way”.
In the past, Lisa has opened up about her incredible 10-stone weight loss journey, attributing part of her success to giving up alcohol. Speaking to the Daily Mirror in 2016, she said: “I realised there were lots of empty calories in booze so that is why I gave it up. If you add up through the week what I’d consume in alcohol calories it was mad.”, reports the Liverpool Echo.
She reflected on her previous habits: “I used to come off stage and think I needed a drink to wind down, so that’d be maybe three bottles over the week. Then if I went out at the weekend with friends, and maybe did a Sunday lunch with my family, there’d be another few bottles there. It all added up.”
Lisa also shared how quitting alcohol was a crucial step in coping with her mother’s passing from cancer at 57, using it as a “comfort blanket” On the One For The Road podcast, Lisa remarked: “I don’t think that I would ever wear the badge and say, [I was] an alcoholic. I truly don’t think I was. I think I was very very [dependent] on drink and as some people might take an antidepressant as it were, that was mine. It was my comfort blanket and I always say that.”
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