10 Celebrities Who Gave Booze The Boot
Not Just For Dry January — 10 Celebrities Who Kicked Alcohol To The Curb - Page 9
L–R: Naomi Campbell, Sanaa Lathan, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Ari Lennox. Source: Jeff Kravitz / Getty, Taylor Hill / WireImage, Karwai Tang / Getty, and Prince Williams/WireImage. Art Design: Siobhan Dixon.
We are closing out the month of January and on some people’s list of New Year’s resolutions is the goal to fulfill Dry January. The challenge encourages participants to not drink alcohol for the entire first month of the year. The public health initiative was created by a UK-based charity organization Alcohol Change UK in 2013.
Many people decide to give up drinking as a whole whether it be for health, weight loss, or saving money. Let’s take a look at some celebrities who have given booze the boot or have never had a sip of it.
1. Sanaa Lathan, 53
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In 2021, Sanaa Lathan dropped the shocking revelation that she stopped drinking alcohol in 2018. During a press run for her Netflix series Hit and Run, she told People, “Alcohol was not going well with me physically. Just, it was not working anymore. It affects everything, and that’s part of the reason why I stopped, because even if you’re going out a couple of times a week and you’re drinking, it was starting to affect me throughout the week. It wouldn’t necessarily be a hangover, but it definitely dimmed my energy. I didn’t feel as good. It was affecting anxiety.”
She referenced her mother Eleanor Mccoy as being the “funest” and “happiest person” despite never having a drink. She added that, “there’s this whole belief that you can only have fun with alcohol. I had to really reprogram that aspect, because it’s just all over in our culture.”
2. Jada Pinkett Smith, 53
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Jada Pinkett Smith didn’t give up alcohol fully, but she did stop drinking hard-hitting brown liquor. The Set It Off actress revealed on an episode of her former talk show Red Table Talk that passing out on the set of The Nutty Professor was one of her catalysts to quit drinking.
“I went to work high and it was a bad batch of ecstasy,” she said. “And I passed out and I told everybody that I must have had old medication in a vitamin bottle. But I’ll tell you what I did, though. I got my ass together and got on that set. That was the last time.”
Pinkett Smith, who has opened up about addiction running in her family, would mix ecstasy, weed, and alcohol together as her “cocktails.” But once she recognized her habit as a problem, she stopped “cold-turkey.” She said she will only have occasional glasses of red wine.
3. Naomi Campbell, 54
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Naomi Campbell opened up about her struggles with both alcohol and drugs in Apple TV+’s 2023 docuseries The Super Models. In it, Campbell reveals that her addiction stemmed from her grief over the 1997 murder of her friend and Versace Founder, Gianni Versace.
She said, “When I started using, that was one of the things I tried to cover up, was grief. Addiction is such a – it’s just a bullshit thing, it really is. You think, ‘Oh it’s gonna heal that wound’. It doesn’t. It can cause such huge fear and anxiety. So I got really angry.”
In 1999, she collapsed at a photoshoot and knew it was time to check into rehab. In 2024, she told Elle UK, “I don’t miss alcohol in my life. I feel better without it. Anywhere that’s a place of holiness or spirituality, I will pray. It doesn’t matter if it’s on a plane, I will pray wherever and whenever I feel.”
4. Ari Lennox, 33
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“Shea Butter Baby” singer Ari Lennox revealed in 2023 that she had been one year sober. She explained that she would drink to escape trauma and to cope with her fear of flying.
In a now-deleted post, she celebrated her journey of sobriety with her fans on Instagram. She said, “I decided December 18th, 2022, would be the day I got clean. You know what I realized after 1 year of many sober flights? I never needed alcohol to get through the flight. I thought I needed alcohol to escape my reality and to cope.
She added, “I needed an excuse to drink and not feel the pain of everyday life and trauma. It was my numbing vacation to avoid my purpose and my truth.”
5. 50 Cent, 49
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50 Cent is not just an actor, producer, and rapper. He’s also delved into the entrepreneur space owning the two liquor brands Branson Cognac and Le Chemin Du Roi champagne. Despite being the owner of these brands, 50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson, does not drink much.
During a CBS Mornings interview, he confirmed that while he doesn’t ingest liquor much he doesn’t mind holding a drink in his hand. When asked why he said, “Well I sold crack, too. I didn’t smoke it, right? Yea, see. When you hustle, you hustle.”
In his book, Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter, he shared how he navigates selling liquor without being a frequent consumer. He wrote, “First, I’ll pour drinks from a bottle of Champagne for everyone who is in VIP with me. When the bottle is empty, I’ll give it to one of my guys and have him quietly refill it with ginger ale. For the rest of the night I’ll have that bottle in my hand. I’ll take swigs every now and then just to keep the vibe right, but I’m not drinking anything but Canada Dry.”
6. Angela White, 36
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Over the past couple of years Angela White formerly known as Blac Chyna has been transitioning not just her appearance but her lifestyle. In early 2023, she began to reverse her cosmetic procedures and even decided to give her life to Christ. The change comes after she declared that she was giving up alcohol. September 2024 made two years for White, and in 2023, she celebrated her milestone of being sober for one full year.
In a post of her holding flowers and getting a kiss on her cheek from her mother Tokyo Toni she said, “September 14 , 2023 marks my one-year of sobriety this year taught me a lot about myself. I made up my mind on September 14, 2022 that I was done with the alcohol. This process is not easy but I did it, I plan on continuing practicing sobriety.”
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She added, “I’m hoping that when you see this, this will inspire you if you are struggling with any addiction, just know that you can do it and you are worth it. God loves you. It’s so many different apps, and groups that can help you with this journey, and you’re not alone.”
7. Leona Lewis, 39
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As far back as 2007, British singer Leona Lewis is quoted saying that she was not a fan of alcohol. At the time, she was in her early 20s and said, “At the moment I don’t drink alcohol – it tastes like hairspray. Maybe I’ll get a taste for it and go off the rails.”
Fast forward to 2016 and it seems the “Bleeding Love” singer’s feelings towards alcohol was unchanged.
She told Stylist, “I think that it’s so funny that people think that you have to drink in order to have fun. It’s such a stupid mindset! A lot of my friends are like: “I need a drink to get on the dance floor” but I’m not like that. I’m there anyway! I don’t need that ‘help me to relax’ thing! If I’m around my friends then I can really relax and have a good time, then that’s all I need. I don’t need alcohol.”
8. Tyler, The Creator, 33
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Tyler, The Creator is another celebrity that didn’t pay too much mind to alcohol. The rapper – whose album Chromakopia debuted at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 charts in November opened up about it in 2020.
In an interview for the Creative All Star Series he said, “I just never wanted to drink. It’s just something that didn’t interest me.” He detailed how he had been high twice in his whole life and realized that too was not for him.
He said, “And forever it is for like do your thing but I have an addictive personality. Like where I will wear the same outfit for like a month and a half type shit. So me being aware of that if I ended up liking alcohol or some shit it would be the f-cking downfall of me because I would need it. And I’m in a financial place where I can enable it myself and I don’t ever want to be that guy. So I’m off it, I don’t want to look at it. Plus I don’t want to do it.”
9. Jennifer Hudson, 43
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Jennifer Hudson shocked the world in 2013 when she told Chelsea Handler that she’s never had alcohol before. On Handler’s show Chelsea Lately she explained to Handler how she got prepared for her character in The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete. In the film, she plays Gloria who is a heroin addict. Hudson said heroin was something she had never tried before playing Gloria. Then dropped another bombshell.
“I’ve never done anything, so that was hard to play this role. I’ve never had a drink in my life. I’m sober,” Hudson said. “I’m like, ‘Okay, this is new to me.’ Normally as an actor, you have things to pull from. I was like, ‘I don’t know what it’s like to feel any of that.”
When Handler asked why the “Spotlight” singer said, “I don’t know. I’ve never been interested. Nobody ever believes it. When I got this role, I was like, ‘Oh my god, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna pull from to play the role?”
The mother of one prepared by going to a rehabilitation center. “The stories that I heard [were] like unbelievable,” she said. “Like wow.”
10. Tyra Banks, 51
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Tyra Banks revealed earlier this year that up until her 50th birthday she had never tried liquor. She said her mom and best friend took her to Australia for a surprise trip.
She told People, “My mom and my best friend surprised me there, and it was so magical,” Banks continues. “We took a seaplane, had a meal in the middle of nowhere. I even had an alcoholic drink for the first time! It wasn’t worth it. I was like, ‘This is nasty!’”
It’s safe to say she probably will not try it again.
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