Frankie Grande, Joan Grande and Ariana Grande over the 2023 holidays.Photo:Frankie Grande/ Instagram
Frankie Grande/ Instagram
Frankie Grandeis celebrating six years of sobriety.
During an appearance on Thursday’s episode ofToday with Hoda & Jenna,the actor and activist, 40, opened up about hitting “rock bottom” and finally deciding to start his recovery journey.
“It’s literally changed everything in my life,” he toldHoda KotbandJenna Bush Hagerof getting clean. “I always say that I’m so lucky and I’m so blessed because at the height of my using, I was still showing up to work. And people weren’t saying, like, ‘Oh, you need to get help.’ Which is great, but it’s also kind of a curse because I was like, ‘Well, no one’s telling me I need to get help.'”
“It was a rock bottom moment. It was after the Manchester bombing and I realized that I could not show up to help my family,” he explained, referring tothe suicide bombing that left 22 people deadduring his sisterAriana’s concert in Manchester, England in May 2017. “It took me further and further into using and farther and farther away from my family.”
Now, after years of sobriety, Grande said his relationship with his family is better than ever.
“The six years sober has repaired my relationship with my family and that has been the greatest blessing of my life,” he said. “I’m the first phone call again when my sister wants to ask a question or my mother needs help with something. I’m the first phone call, which I wasn’t for years.”
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Frankie Grande.Getty Images
Grande previouslydetailed how he got his health back on track in a letter shared with PEOPLEafter celebrating his first year of sobriety.
“The party life that had once given me so much confidence and comfort had turned into a nightmare where I never felt more alone. I remember lying on my bathroom floor after a night of drunken debauchery believing my life had reached the point where living was just too painful and I was envisioning any way to stop the constant torment… I finally had the courage to ask for help. I got help… and I am here today because with that help I discovered that the path to the light was not in drowning my sorrows, but in facing them head on… in sobriety.”
Grande said he wanted his story to be an example for anyone that they can “become whole again” after going through a dark time. He added that he’s a new man since getting sober and it’s a “lifetime decision.”
“I have never been happier. I have never been healthier. I have never been so free,” he said. “If you have ever found yourself in a cycle of depression where you are drinking and/or using to excess and you believe that there is no way out I am here to tell you there is help out there! You are ABSOLUTELY NOT ALONE!”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
source: people.com
