English actor and comedian Russell Brand is celebrating the 20-year anniversary of his sobriety, crediting those who have supported him for his success.
“I’m 20 years clean and sober today,” Brand said in an Instagram post published Tuesday. “It’s December the 13th. So, firstly, I wanted to express my gratitude for all the people who have helped me to remain clean and sober. It is never done on your own.”
He went on to describe the milestone as “a community and spiritual achievement.”
“Because what I have been taught and shown is that it is impossible for a person like me to not drink and use drugs unless I have sufficient ongoing support from people that understand what it’s like to feel that drugs or alcohol, or, you know, certain behaviors are necessary in order to feel OK,” explained the 47-year-old celebrity.
Brand has not just spoken out against his struggle with drugs and alcohol. The “Death on the Nile” star has also opened up about the dangers of pornography consumption.
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The well-known actor made headlines in 2015 when he shared his thoughts on the issue.
“Pornography reduces the spectacle of sex to a kind of extracted physical act,” he said. “[T]here’s a general feeling there in your core if you look at pornography that, ‘This isn’t what’s the best thing for me to do; this isn’t the best use of my time now.’ I don’t put that laptop lid down and think, ‘There, what a productive piece of time spent connecting with the world.’”
“I feel like, if I had total dominion over myself, I would never look at pornography again,” Brand continued. “One day at a time, I’ll kick it out of my life.”
He also said, “Our attitudes toward sex have become warped and perverted and have deviated from its true function as an expression of love and a means for procreation because … the way we have designed and expressed it has become really, really confused.”
As for his sobriety from alcohol and drugs, Brand described it as an “awakening” from the “world of attachment,” admitting, though, that maintaining that abstinence is an “ongoing process.”
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