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'It Felt Cathartic': Sanaa Lathan Shares Her Sobriety Journey After Struggle with Alcoholism
Acclaimed actress Sanaa Lathan has recently opened up about her personal journey with alcohol and how it has influenced her career. Lathan revealed that she turned to alcohol for various reasons
Trigger Warning: This article contains references to alcohol and drug addiction
Sanaa Lathan opened up about her experience with alcohol and how giving it up changed both her life and her career in a candid interview. Sanaa Lathan is one of those highly talented actresses who recently talked about her role in one such project where the character, played by her, reflected the life of alcohol addiction.
Sanaa Lathan has opened up about her personal journey with alcohol
Sanna Lathan revealed that alcohol had a sort of "dimming" effect on her energy, taking away mental well-being and balance bit by bit. It wasn't until 2018, though, that the realization of living in the face of alcohol changed her and brought full-fledged sobriety to her.
Recounting her life story, Sanaa said her mom was really inspiring because she never drank, yet she is one of the most joyous and vibrant people she has ever known, which to her makes little sense as to why people connect fun or living with alcohol. When she learned about what alcohol does to the body, Sanaa came to realize how bad it could be for her, both physically and mentally. With this knowledge came a priority in giving up alcohol, which then paved the way for her success in career endeavors.
Recent career heights, she says, were reached because she is sober; because she now gets the time to reflect on how sobriety brought the mental strength necessary to take on her toughest projects.
Since quitting alcohol, Sanaa has directed and starred in the 2022 hit On the Come Up, earned an Emmy nomination in 2021 for her guest role on Succession, and produced and starred in the popular Netflix movie Nappily Ever After. She believes that her ability to handle such demanding roles and responsibilities would not have been possible had she continued drinking. "I do believe that I would never have been able to direct a major studio movie if I hadn't stopped. There are things that I'm doing in my life now that I don't think that I would've been able to sustain," she shared.
Her part in the new comedy-drama The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat on Hulu serves as additional evidence of how well her personal and professional lives mesh. Adapted to a series based on the novel by Edward Kelsey Moore, the show tags on Sanaa in the trio of lifelong friends with Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Uzo Aduba, as they maneuver through life in Indiana in the 1960s. For Sanaa, the character of Barbara Jean, who is brought to life as a woman in all sorts of pain, was almost therapeutic to portray, since it was not her first time playing a character whose crutch came in the shape of a bottle.
It's her own experiences that Sanaa can draw upon in a way to get deep in the emotional depth Barbara Jean holds, and so the role is very personal to her. "Each character leaves me with something," she noted, often in eerie alignment between the roles she plays on screen and the real-life experiences through which she is going.
Through this character, Sanaa is able to explore themes of pain, healing, and the difficulties of self-medication—issues which she herself once was struggling with. After she also agreed that casting "felt cathartic," Sanaa added, "There was a period in my life where I was using alcohol as a self-medication."
The journey of Sanáa Lathan is an exemplar of the power of introspection and all the good effects that flow automatically from having made painful but necessary adjustments to life. Defeating addiction, finding oneself, seizing new opportunities, and winning in personal and professional life all come together in the story.
Disclaimer: If you know someone who is struggling with alcohol or substance abuse, please reach out to the authorities and report it. There are several helplines available for the same.
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