Marian Keyes has opened up about her decision to give up alcohol 26 years ago.
The established author revealed she went down a very dark path almost three decades ago before addressing her consumption habits.
Speaking on Angela Scanlon’s podcast Thanks A Million, she said,”It was a mix of everything that made me confront alcoholism. Like any addiction it’s progressive.
“It got worse over the last couple of years. I wasn’t really interested in people anymore. I just wanted to stay at home and drink. I missed a lot of work.
“I felt very, very depressed. I mean, it’s no surprise, I was pouring this very powerful, depressing chemical into myself in huge quantities on a daily basis.”
Following an attempt to take her own life, Marian returned to Ireland and sought out professional help.
“I felt very suicidal at the time and that meant people who hadn’t previously been involved, like my parents, suddenly were,” she said.
“The next thing, I was on a plane home to Dublin from London. And then two days after that, I was in the centre.”
Marian continued, “I was thirty and I honestly felt that my life was completely destroyed. I realised that I’d kind of run out of road and that I had to stop.
“I was grief stricken because it was like saying goodbye to the love of my life. And now I look back and it’s 26 years since I’ve had a drink and my life has just been so beautiful since.
“I don’t make a show of myself and I don’t let myself down. I don’t hurt people. I feel clean and reliable and decent today. And free. I would never have known that I could feel so happy about not drinking.”