Addiction and recovery

Strings concluded that drugs create more problems than they solve.

“I feel like drugs and shit cause a lot more problems than they medicate”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #676 - Billy Strings (Aug 20, 2026) · Listen from 1:31:07

Strings said he had smoked daily since age eleven and only stopped once before, during a year of probation after a DUI.

“Dude, I smoked every day since I was like 11”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #676 - Billy Strings (Aug 20, 2026) · Listen from 1:29:25

Strings offered his impulse to save some of the drug that killed his mother as an illustration of how addiction works.

“this is literally the stuff that I'm holding in my hand killed my mom. And my first thought is I should take some and just hide it”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #676 - Billy Strings (Aug 20, 2026) · Listen from 1:08:15

Strings characterized addiction as an illness and said he cannot drink moderately the way other people can.

“it's an illness. I mean, I think some people are lucky enough not to have it”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #676 - Billy Strings (Aug 20, 2026) · Listen from 1:05:15

Hale advises that there is no single correct route to sobriety and that relapse is not disqualifying.

“I've tried every way and I've found my way”

On Purpose with Jay Shetty: LUCY HALE: “I Was Sabotaging My Life.” (Sep 21, 2026) · Listen from 44:46

Hale says her drinking and her music career coincided, which is why she has avoided returning to music.

“I had to cancel my tour because of drinking um and which is why I've never really approached music again”

On Purpose with Jay Shetty: LUCY HALE: “I Was Sabotaging My Life.” (Sep 21, 2026) · Listen from 38:04

Hale says she never had a normal drinking experience and was drawn to the feeling rather than the taste of alcohol.

“I never understood like why someone would drink a glass of wine for the taste of it. Like I hated the taste of it. I loved the feeling”

On Purpose with Jay Shetty: LUCY HALE: “I Was Sabotaging My Life.” (Sep 21, 2026) · Listen from 36:22

Hale says she is over four and a half years sober and that her first year felt easy before repressed material surfaced.

“I'm in year, I'm like a little over four and a half years sober. And the first year was amazing. It was like easy breezy”

On Purpose with Jay Shetty: LUCY HALE: “I Was Sabotaging My Life.” (Sep 21, 2026) · Listen from 32:29

Von acknowledges he had drifted from his recovery program and has recommitted to it.

“I just gotten away from my program, you know? And so I had to lock back in. And so now it's been good”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #685 - Joey Diaz (Sep 25, 2026) · Listen from 1:40:15

Von says he tried to get off psychiatric medication he had taken for 23 years, experimenting with plant medicine.

“I tried to get off of my meds and I was trying like different plant medicine stuff”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #685 - Joey Diaz (Sep 25, 2026) · Listen from 1:36:17

Von says he has 45 to 46 days of sobriety and feels more hopeful.

“I got 45 days right now, 46. I'm just grateful to have a piece of time together where I feel just like a lot more hopeful”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #684 - Bad Haircut (Sep 19, 2026) · Listen from 40:50

Von says he has personally struggled with pornography and attended recovery meetings for it.

“I've gone to like different recovery, like, you know, meetings for it that my buddy runs”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #682 - Bishop Robert Barron (Sep 10, 2026) · Listen from 1:19:39

Prince states the legacy he wants is to be remembered as someone who went to hell and returned to spread hope and recovery.

“When I'm gone, I want to be known as the man that went deep into hell, came out on the other side, and sprinkled hope and recovery across the world to make people's lives better”

Unblinded with Sean Callagy: From Celebrity Agent to Recovery: Darren Prince’s Untold Story with Sean Callagy (Mar 26, 2026) · Listen from 1:07:46

Prince says he advocated at the White House for teaching self-worth and self-love in grammar school as a prevention measure.

“Can we start creating a course in grammar school”

Unblinded with Sean Callagy: From Celebrity Agent to Recovery: Darren Prince’s Untold Story with Sean Callagy (Mar 26, 2026) · Listen from 1:07:28

Prince describes his July 2, 2008 surrender, when he prayed to lose his money and fame in exchange for a day of freedom.

“You know, I fell to my knees and I screamed, take the money, take the business, take the notoriety”

Unblinded with Sean Callagy: From Celebrity Agent to Recovery: Darren Prince’s Untold Story with Sean Callagy (Mar 26, 2026) · Listen from 56:20

Prince argues that authenticity and vulnerability, plus serving others, build real self-esteem and self-worth.

“I think authenticity and vulnerability is truly a superpower”

Unblinded with Sean Callagy: From Celebrity Agent to Recovery: Darren Prince’s Untold Story with Sean Callagy (Mar 26, 2026) · Listen from 18:52

Huberman argued that surrendering control to a higher power improves impulse control in ways neuroscience cannot explain.

“So there's this weird giving up of control, of surrender somehow, that imparts more control”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2553 - Andrew Huberman (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 2:33:44

Huberman said children with ADHD given stimulants are largely obtaining the equivalent of a good night's sleep.

“It turns out these kids with ADHD taking these drugs, what they're really getting is the equivalent of a good night's sleep”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2553 - Andrew Huberman (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 2:19:30

Huberman concluded from the deaths of colleagues and friends that scientific knowledge does not by itself protect people.

“Knowledge alone does not protect us”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2553 - Andrew Huberman (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 40:48

Huberman, relaying Anna Lembke, argues that extreme quantification of a behavior often signals obsession or addiction.

“the limbic system loves to quantify. And if we get to the extreme of quantification in a given area of life, of behavior, of obsession, it very likely”

Huberman Lab: The Art of True Happiness | Dr. Arthur Brooks (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 1:53:28

Diaz says he disliked Hollywood Narcotics Anonymous meetings because attendees did not adhere to the program.

“I didn't like the Hollywood NA. I went to it a couple of times”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #685 - Joey Diaz (Sep 25, 2026) · Listen from 1:54:51

Diaz argues that sobriety is about discovering the self that drugs had concealed, not merely resisting temptation.

“Sobriety isn't just fighting off the devil. It's us emorphing into the new us”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #685 - Joey Diaz (Sep 25, 2026) · Listen from 1:47:52

Diaz says he quit cocaine at 44, nearly 19 years ago, and accomplished more since than in all the years before.

“44, I made a decision to stop snorting Coke. That was 19 years ago. This November will be 19 years”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #685 - Joey Diaz (Sep 25, 2026) · Listen from 1:48:28

Lamott says drinking was normalized in her family and social circle until she had to face what it was doing to her soul.

“And it's unfunny when you're alone with yourself and you have to come face to face with what it's doing to your soul”

TED Radio Hour: Addiction, motherhood and Jesus with writer Anne Lamott (Jul 31, 2026) · Listen from 16:07

Lamott recounts getting sober on July 7, 1986 after waking up sick and tired of being sick and tired.

“And then finally, July 7th, 1986, I woke up and I just had this feeling. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired”

TED Radio Hour: Addiction, motherhood and Jesus with writer Anne Lamott (Jul 31, 2026) · Listen from 14:56

Lamott describes her first experience of drinking as a transformation that she then chased for twenty years.

“And we chugged them and the whole world sprang into color like in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy opens the door into Oz. And I could breathe again. And I felt pretty”

TED Radio Hour: Addiction, motherhood and Jesus with writer Anne Lamott (Jul 31, 2026) · Listen from 15:38

Judd hopes her story helps other parents of addicts set loving boundaries.

“it's really my hope that I can help someone else out there in the world of addiction say no with love and let go and let God”

The Shawn Ryan Show: #345 Wynonna Judd - Dolly Parton, Naomi Judd's Death & Finding Her Biological Father (Oct 5, 2026) · Listen from 4:20:30

Judd says she stopped enabling her daughter after realizing her financial support could contribute to her death.

“oh my God, I'm actually, it's possible that I could be part of the reason she dies. I'm loving her to death”

The Shawn Ryan Show: #345 Wynonna Judd - Dolly Parton, Naomi Judd's Death & Finding Her Biological Father (Oct 5, 2026) · Listen from 4:25:15

Slay says he didn't consider himself an alcoholic until reading the Alcoholics Anonymous book, which described drinkers like him who couldn't stop once started.

“I'm fine really to not drink, but the moment I have a beer, then I'm like, I'm like, it's like something comes over me”

The Shawn Ryan Show: #344 Dusty Slay - Moon Landing Conspiracies, Flat Earth, Aliens and the Nephilim (Oct 1, 2026) · Listen from 9:55

Slay says he quit drinking in late January 2012.

“I quit in 2012, late January 2012”

The Shawn Ryan Show: #344 Dusty Slay - Moon Landing Conspiracies, Flat Earth, Aliens and the Nephilim (Oct 1, 2026) · Listen from 9:11

Brooks argues workaholism is an addiction society praises, stemming from success addiction rooted in earning love.

“Success addiction, once again, is really downstream from earning love, from the belief that I can be enough if I do enough”

Huberman Lab: The Art of True Happiness | Dr. Arthur Brooks (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 2:34:06

Brooks offers a rule of thumb that pleasurable activities done alone are more likely pleasure than enjoyment.

“If you're doing it alone, you're probably doing it wrong. Probably it's probably more about pleasure and less about enjoyment”

Huberman Lab: The Art of True Happiness | Dr. Arthur Brooks (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 9:11

Eszterhas said cocaine was enjoyable but never inspired his writing.

“But I never felt that the Coke was inspirational. It was enjoyable”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 2:06:47

Eszterhas said he drank to silence the imaginary world of his scripts so he could function in daily life.

“And the booze makes it stop so that you can continue your normal familial daily obligations and schedules without having this stuff in your head”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2508 - Joe Eszterhas (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 2:00:42

McDaniel notes that healing mother hunger eases cravings but that addiction may still need its own specific treatment.

“I'm not saying that if you treat mother hunger, your addictions are going to go away. They may need some specific care”

The Mel Robbins Podcast: You’re Not Broken: Why You People-Please, Feel Anxious, & Never Feel Good Enough – and How to Heal (May 21, 2026) · Listen from 1:06:54

McDaniel claims every daughter she has treated who grew up with a critical, non-attuned mother has an addiction, because addiction mimics connection.

“every daughter that I've worked with that has grown up with that will have an addiction. Why? Because an addiction gives us a sense of connection”

The Mel Robbins Podcast: You’re Not Broken: Why You People-Please, Feel Anxious, & Never Feel Good Enough – and How to Heal (May 21, 2026) · Listen from 34:46