On The Wagon: Celebrities Who Had To Quit Drinking

Denzel Washington

In 2011, before filming the movie Flight, Washington said he quit drinking and detoxed with the help of a nutritionist, a personal trainer, and a chef.

Denzel said it was all for his art: “If I had been drinking while I was shooting, it’d be harder to stay disciplined, just to get up in the morning. You are a little more hungover, grouchier.”

James Franco

James Franco plays characters under the influence so often, it can be hard to believe that the 36-year-old actor has been clean and sober since he was 29. Talk about acting chops!

Jennifer Hudson

J-Hud said she quit drinking before she ever started, and that made it hard for her to play Effie White in Dreamgirls. She just didn’t have any experience to pull from!

“I’ve never done anything, so that was hard to play this role [of a heroin addict]. I’ve never had a drink in my life. I’m sober. I’m like, ‘Okay, this is new to me.’

Normally as as actor, you have things to pull from. I was like, ‘I don’t know what it’s like to feel any of that.”

Jada Pinkett-Smith

Jada said that she had to stage her own intervention when “I found myself drinking two bottles of wine on the couch and I said, ‘Jada, I think we’ve got a problem here.'”

She quit cold turkey, got “in contact with the pain” and hasn’t had a drink since!

Ben Affleck

The Gone Girl star said that he was afraid of having a drinking problem like the one his father battled with, so he checked himself into rehab in 2001 and devoted himself to living a sober life.

Eminem

Eminem said that after he went to rehab in 2008, he was unsure of how he would make it as a sober rapper. He told Vibe magazine:

“You gotta remember I hadn’t recorded a song sober in seven years. So it took me awhile to even feel like I could record a song sober …”

We’re glad he was able to get over that hurdle!

Eddie Murphy

Legendary comedian Eddie Murphy said he got drunk exactly twice and quit after that:

“The last time I got drunk was…on my honeymoon, maybe 18 years ago. And that was the second time I got drunk and it was the last time.”

Why no imbibing for Murphy? He said that alcohol just doesn’t agree with him:

“I don’t drink at all. At all. I can’t drink, because I will throw up. And sometimes it looks like the drinkers are having so much fun and I cannot.”

Christina Ricci

Christina Ricci said she may have majored in partying, but when it was time to grow up she sobered up:

“I went through a normal kind of late teens, early 20s drinking, but [stopping] was a choice I made, because I didn’t think it was very good for my life…I don’t go out very often.”

Jennifer Lopez

How does J.Lo stay forever young? By steering clear of the hard stuff:

“I think that ruins your skin. Of course, during celebratory toasts, everybody’s like, ‘You can’t toast with water!’ So I’ll toast with alcohol and just take a sip.”

Kelly Osbourne

Lots of fans think the Black Sabbath heir loves to live on the edge because her famous father did. But Kelly said she quit drinking a long time ago.

Why? She hates the taste of alcohol — and its sneaky ability to make you sick.

Matthew Perry

The Friends star said he had a “big problem” with alcohol during his ride to superstardom. He made his final trip to rehab in 2011 and has been sober ever since.

Daniel Radcliffe

Was Hogwarts a party school? Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe announced that he quit drinking in 2010, just before the last movie in the series was released.

But in 2012, Radcliffe relapsed and was was kicked out of a bar for being drunk and disorderly.

Tyra Banks

Supermodel Tyra Banks had her first drink in middle school — and hasn’t had one since: “I’ve never had any drugs and I had a little taste of alcohol when I was 12 years old, but that’s about it.”

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson said he’s been sober for more than 20 years, and he only has one regret:

“The irony is I never got to taste Cristal. Back then, Moët was my champagne of choice. Now I get sent crates of Cristal and I ain’t never tasted the stuff. Ain’t that a b—-?”