Glee Alum Jane Lynch Opens Up About Her Sobriety Journey

“I became a connoisseur of wine in a way that only an alcoholic can,” she shared. “I went back into denial, after all those years of sobriety and self-knowledge. I fooled myself—I woke up one day and went: ‘I’m back.'”  

She continued, “I was tied to this thing again, to some hope of what it was going to do for me, and the rest of the day didn’t matter. The only part of the day that really mattered was five o’clock.” 

When asked what brought her back to drinking, Lynch said it was partly due to “boredom,” adding, “I think I got to a point where nothing was doing it for me any more.”  

She said she drank while starring in Paramount+’s The Good Fight, which she appeared in from 2017 to 2021. 

“I couldn’t wait to be done and go have a drink by myself,” she said. “I was a little ashamed, and also the denial, the justifications.”

Lynch explained that even her friends were “fooled,” saying, “I remember a friend said: ‘I told you you’re not an alcoholic anymore.’ I’d go: ‘I know!'”

The actress shared that it took six months after relapsing to officially stop drinking again. She described the similar, otherworldly effect she felt the first time, “Like the sober fairy said: ‘OK, I’m giving you one more chance.'”

“And it was over,” she said. “Five o’clock would come and I didn’t notice it.”