There is something so utterly brave and beautiful about celebrities who veer onto the dark side, plunge to the depths… and yet manage to surface and return, bruised but not broken. The painful honesty with which they recount their struggles to stay afloat is deeply touching and even inspirational. You can’t help but doff your hat and whisper a prayer that they always stay on top of their inner demons…

“I’m aware I have a drinking problem”

Ranbir Kapoor raised eyebrows with his disclosure about his own struggle with alcohol. Speaking about the drinking problem that plagues him as well, he revealed, “It (film) is a visual medium and I have to look after myself. I have seen it (drinking) in my family, I have seen it go the wrong way, so I’m aware I have a drinking problem. When I shoot, when I work, I don’t drink. But when I’m not shooting…” And during those times, he would “drink anything”. Not a confession one would expect from the industry’s blue-eyed boy, whose father Rishi Kapoor had been infamous for his fondness for the bottle, up until then.

“I want to tell every addict that there is assistance”

With an impending engagement to his sweetheart, Prateik Babbar has hopefully put his demons to rest permanently. “I am certain that I will wrestle my need for drugs even on my best days, but the only way to keep cynicism at bay is by sharing the emotions that fuelled my addiction in the first place,” he said with brutal honesty. By talking about his battle with drug addiction, he also sought to break the stigma associated with addiction. “I want to tell every addict that there is assistance. I can’t promise that it will be easy, but I can assure you that it will be simpler than following a life that will eventually destroy you, and everything you love.”

There are no drugs in the world that I have not done

As he tells it, “My struggle with drugs started before high school. My first real drug was a disturbed childhood. Constantly faced with internal dilemma, the voices in my head debating where I belong and who I am, drugs came disguised as a glitzy escape.”
Prateik has shared the bare-faced details of his dependence on drugs to get him through the day, and how after one freak incident, where he woke up in a pool of his own vomit, he decided to seek help. He has been through rehab twice and has come out stronger, and now wants to help those struggling with addiction.

“Love your family, it is better than cocaine”

Sanjay Dutt never seeks to lay the blame for his drug addiction on any outside factor. After a life so tumultuous it is the subject of an upcoming film, Baba, as he is fondly called, has finally managed to put the upheavals to rest. “It's not that I started because of mom (Nargis Dutt, who succumbed to cancer). ‘Mera dog mar gaya toh daaru pi raha hoon, aaj mera gadha mar gaya to daaru piyunga’ - these are just excuses. Substance abuse is something that you do if you want to do it. Once you get into it, it's very difficult to leave. It is the worst thing in the world. My journey with substance abuse has been about 12 years. There are no drugs in the world that I have not done.”

Dutt has also been categorical in stating that he did not leave drugs because of his family. “I left because I wanted to be out of it. I didn't want that life. When you start the rehabilitation process, one part is physical - your body breaks down and you feel cold. But the most difficult part comes later, when your mind says, ‘Ab toh tu theek ho gaya hai, ek baar maar lete hain'. That's when you have to use willpower. I want to tell youngsters, live your life, love your work, love your family, it is better than cocaine.”

Recommended Read: WHY WE’RE NOT SURPRISED BY POOJA BHATT’S BOOK ON BATTLING ALCOHOLISM…

“A single malt lessens the pain”

Trust filmmaker and writer Pooja Bhatt to paint her addiction in all its alluring, frightening shades… “Alcohol is comforting, it colours your evening. It’s a socially accepted narcotic even at business lunches and in the boardroom. Also, living in a fast-paced city, being in a high-stress profession, it becomes a reason to celebrate and cope with failure. Your film is a hit, you bathe in champagne; it flops, a single malt lessens the pain.”
Pooja had revealed her battle with alcoholism with astonishing clarity. “All of us somewhere are lonely. Some expect a man to find the answer while some find it easily in the bottle of alcohol. It seems very gratifying, it pulls you and before you know it, you are down the rabbit hole and it is difficult to come back.”

I didn’t have an elder guiding me. So yes, the bottle was there and I just started drinking

She reveals she stopped drinking by first acknowledging that she had a drinking problem. “Because you are a woman and you live in a society where they are always taught or forced to brush things under the carpet. We tend to bury this shameful habit that we have of covering it up and say, 'Oh, we don't have a problem, it is somebody else's and I am not that drunk.'

“Luckily, I pulled the plug before it became impossible for me to stop,” she avers, adding, “Being the daughter of an alcoholic makes you four times more susceptible to becoming one.”

“The bottle was there and I just started drinking”

Actor-comedian Kapil Sharma went from being the brightest thing on the small screen, to its poster-boy of disgrace. His successful show off air, rumours of constant no-shows, of celebrities boycotting him, and constant reports of ‘ill health’… finally the real cause emerged: his addiction to the bottle. “There were a few problems in life and 50 things were happening at the same time…When a man is upset, you lose the perspective of thinking what should be done that time. I didn’t have an elder guiding me. I stay alone here, so yes, the bottle was there and I just started drinking.”

My struggle with drugs started before high school. My first real drug was a disturbed childhood

The habit nearly brought about his complete ruin. After a stint in rehab, followed by another setback when he hit the bottle again, Kapil admits, “I realised that this isn’t the solution to it because it depresses you even further. When I keep working, I stay happy.” Using work as an antidote to another addiction is definitely the lesser of the two evils in some situations.