REVEALED: The motive so many celebs are going sober as Rihanna and Tom Holland ditch booze
It’s a New Year, which means millions of Americans are setting out to hit the gym, eat healthier, and ditch alcohol.
In fact, it’s estimated as many as 75million Americans will participate in Dry January, an increasingly popular trend that involves giving up alcohol for a month.
This would be the biggest Dry January yet since the movement started in 2013.
Quitting booze even for a month has been shown to cause a host of benefits like more restful sleep, weight loss, clearer skin, and even a healthier liver.
An increasing number of celebrities have even taken Dry January a few steps forward and quit alcohol altogether, citing increased social pressure and struggles with addiction.
Rihanna revealed this week that she hasn’t had a drink in a year. ‘New Year, New Me,’ she wrote on Instagram.
Spider-Man star Tom Holland started his own non-alcoholic beer company, Bero, after realizing during Dry January that he might have ‘a little bit of an alcohol thing.’
And last year Formula 1 phenom Lewis Hamilton revealed he had also stopped drinking and created the first alcohol-free tequila brand.
Medical experts told DailyMail.com that more celebrities opening up about sobriety could reflect changing attitudes about alcohol amid mounting evidence on the long-term harms of drinking, such as liver disease, heart attacks, and dementia.
They also suggested that the rise in celebs opening up about sobriety could be linked to the rise of non-alcoholic beverages, which are now a billion-dollar industry.
Rihanna revealed on Instagram this week that she didn’t have a single alcoholic beverage in 2024. She is pictured here during New Year’s Eve
Pictured at left is Rihanna in 2023 before going teetotal and on right at the end of 2024 after a year sober
Data from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) shows that alcohol consumption has gone up overall in the US, largely due to the pandemic.
From 2018 to 2020, heavy alcohol use surged by 20 percent, and these rates remained steady through 2022.
NIAAA estimates eight in 10 Americans over 12 have had a drink in their lifetime, and nearly two-thirds of US adults drink alcohol regularly, according to Pew Research Center.
However, rates are starting to fall, especially in Gen Z.
A 2023 survey from Gallup found that the amount of US adults under 35 who say they ever drink dropped from 72 percent in 2001-2003 to 62 percent in 2021-2023.
Even in adults over 55, the rate of drinking has decreased from 59 percent to 49 percent in the same timeframe.
Dr Shoshana Ungerleider, an internal medicine physician at Crossover Health in California, told DailyMail.com: ‘Sobriety is no longer seen as unusual or restrictive; instead, it has become socially acceptable, even aspirational.
‘Public figures often serve as role models, and their decision to quit drinking aligns with a desire to maintain a positive public image, maximize productivity, and enhance their personal lives.
‘The normalization of sobriety in popular culture has also made it easier for individuals to discuss alcohol use openly and consider making changes in their own habits.’
Sophia Spencer, a social psychologist in the UK, told DailyMail.com that this doesn’t mean more celebrities are suddenly becoming sober.
Instead, more conversations are happening about it.
She said: ‘The key shift isn’t that sobriety is now trendier, but rather social norms have evolved. Sobriety is no longer seen as a response to excessive drinking or being socially awkward.
‘It has been normalized to the point where people are choosing, and celebrities are being public about, being sober without feeling that they’re going against social norms or having to justify their choices explicitly.
‘This normalization means we’re not necessarily seeing an increase in sober celebrities – rather we are seeing more celebrities being open about being sober.’
While Rihanna did not reveal her reasons for quitting alcohol in 2024, several celebrities have done so after struggling with addiction.
Pictured at left is Robert Downey Jr’s mugshot from 2000, shortly after he was jailed for drug possession. He has since been open about his addiction issues and being sober for the last two decades
Donald Trump Jr, pictured here, said in 2019 that he gave up drinking because he had a ‘compulsive personality’
One of the most infamous is Robert Downey Jr, who publicly battled drug and alcohol addiction in the 90s and early 2000s.
He started using drugs and alcohol as a teenager, which quickly escalated to him being sentenced to three years in prison in 1999 for possession of heroin and cocaine.
In 2001, he checked himself into rehab, and he’s been in recovery since 2003.
Now 59, the Iron Man star said in a recent documentary: ‘I was just kind of playing a game of just wanting to self-soothe or just stay loaded rather than deal with the fact that things had gone off the tracks a little bit.’
More recently, Donald Trump Jr wrote in his 2019 book ‘Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us’ that he chose to abstain from alcohol after realizing he has a ‘compulsive personality.’
He wrote: ‘Once I got going, it wasn’t easy to stop me – which, when you’re in college, isn’t a huge problem, as long as you’re getting your work done.
‘With my personality, drinking alcohol was a recipe for disaster.’
His father, Donald Trump, also claims to have gone teetotal after the death of his brother Fred Trump Jr in 1981 from alcoholism.
High School Musical and The Iron Claw star Zac Efron has also spoken about remaining sober after struggling with addiction.
Bella Hadid (left) and Zac Efron revealed they ditched alcohol due to addiction issues and realizing they were ‘losing control’ while drinking
In 2013, he checked into rehab for alcohol and cocaine addictions.
He has remained sober since 2014 and has opened up about the pressures of Hollywood influencing his substance abuse.
The actor, now 36, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2014: ‘I was drinking a lot, way too much.
‘It’s never one specific thing. I mean, you’re in your 20s, single, going through life in Hollywood, you know? Everything is thrown at you.
‘I wouldn’t take anything back; I needed to learn everything I did. But it was an interesting journey, to say the least.’
Other celebrities have turned to increasingly popular non-alcoholic cocktails and beer to curb the habit.
Supermodel Bella Hadid revealed last year that she went sober in 2022 by co-founding non-alcoholic beverage company Kin Euphorics.
She wrote on Instagram: ‘I’m so proud of anyone discovering their sobriety or anyone who has had the courage to open their mind to Dry July!’
In a recent interview with InStyle, the 27-year-old admitted she had started to lose control of herself after a night of heavy drinking.
She said: ”I have done my fair share of drinking.
‘I loved alcohol and it got to the point where even I started to, you know, cancel nights out that I felt like I wouldn’t be able to control myself.
‘There’s just this never-ending effect of, essentially, you know, pain and stress over those few drinks that didn’t really do much, you know?’
Tom Holland went sober in 2022 after completing Dry January. He has since founded non-alcoholic beer company Bero
Zendaya, pictured with boyfriend Holland, said after her 21st birthday in 2017 that she never plans on drinking
Tom Holland had a similar shift when he embarked upon Dry January in 2022. At that point, he was drinking so regularly that it became second nature.
He told Men’s Health this week: ‘Every Friday after work was a write-off: Let’s get drunk and have a good time.
‘I didn’t have bad experiences, but I would drink enough so that I would ruin my next day.’
He has been sober ever since and founded non-alcoholic beer company Bero last year.
Holland told Forbes: ‘My first year sober was really difficult, and had I had Bero, I think it would have been easier.’
In 2023, the non-alcoholic beverage market totaled $1.2billion, a 29 percent increase from the year before.
Dr Ungerleider said: ‘For some celebrities, like Tom Holland, sobriety has even opened doors to new opportunities, such as his business venture in non-alcoholic beverages, further highlighting how abstaining from alcohol can fit seamlessly into a modern lifestyle.’
His girlfriend and fellow actor Zendaya also abstains from drinking, which Holland said helped him stay sober.
When she turned 21 in 2017, the Euphoria star wrote on her website: ‘Just because I’m now the legal drinking age, doesn’t mean I’m going to start throwing ’em back.
‘I don’t plan to start drinking. My life is too stressful to need help with relaxing by having a cocktail. This industry is way too nuts for me to not be in control of myself and my decisions, so I just don’t want to introduce drinking!
‘Plus, I don’t want drinking to become a vice. Why try something if you don’t need it?!’
