Lucy Hale Reflects on Eating Disorder Battle and Sobriety Journey

The Dude actress added that she “held on to that belief that the real Lucy came out when she was drinking,” noting that her relationship with alcohol began at an early age. 

“From my very first experience drinking at age 14 up until a year ago, I’ve had a problem. I’ve never had a period of my life where I was a normal moderate drinker…I was willing to go to this crazy, dark place every time.”

But after celebrating such an important milestone in her sobriety journey, Hale is viewing her story with a completely different perspective.

“Now I can show up exactly who I am and share my story, and to actually be able to talk about this is so freeing because it’s not chaining me down anymore,” she continued. “It takes the power away from it. I can be Lucy, which is not always cute at times. Its dark and disgusting and scary and that’s what makes us all complex, beautiful human beings, is we all have got this shadow self.”