15 sober celebrities who don't drink alcohol
Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lopez and Elton John are among the famous faces who opt not to indulge in booze.
One of the most popular resolutions that people make in the new year is to cut down on their alcohol consumption – or even stop completely.
Alcohol Change began 'Dry January' in 2013, and now over 100,000 Brits take part in the month-long sobriety challenge each year.
Some who complete the challenge choose to continue to stay sober, as there are several benefits to cutting out alcohol, including weight loss, better skin, no hangovers, and better overall mental and physical health.
Read more: Kelly Osbourne thanks fans as she marks one year of being sober
If you’re thinking of cutting out alcohol completely, why not take the lead from celebrities who have done it also? From the long-time teetotallers, like Elton John and Naomi Campbell, to those who have taken the plunge more recently like Chrissy Teigen, here are 15 celebrities who have given up booze for good.
Elton John
The national treasure said he gave up drinking in 1990 as the AIDS epidemic took its toll. Over three decades on and Elton John, 75, is still teetotal.
“Within six months I became sober, and clean, and have been for the last 27 years,” the singer told The Fix in 2017.
Chrissy Teigen
Model Chrissy Teigen, 37, started her sobriety journey in 2020.
“One month ago, on my birthday, I got this book [Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker] from my doctor and friend,” she explained on her Instagram Story in December 2020.
“I was done with making an a** of myself in front of people (I'm still embarrassed), tired of day drinking and feeling like shit at 6pm, not being able to sleep. I have been sober ever since.”
Read more: Chrissy Teigen marks one year without alcohol
Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe, 58, has been sober for over three decades after he recovered from alcoholism.
“Being in recovery has given me everything of value that I have in my life,” Lowe said in 2015.
“Integrity, honesty, fearlessness, faith, a relationship with God, and most of all gratitude. It’s given me a beautiful family and an amazing career. I’m under no illusions where I would be without the gift of alcoholism and the chance to recover from it.”
Anne Hathaway
In 2016, Anne Hathaway pledged to give up alcohol for 18 years after her son Jonathan was born.
“The time I have with (Jonathan) is really precious. And I do leave a lot for work and I found my time with was getting impacted, not necessary by the drinking, as I never went out of control around him. But I hate to say it – as you get older, the hangovers get really bad,” the 40-year-old told Lorraine at the time.
“I had to make a choice and I chose mornings. Isn't that annoying? Isn't that horrible? I'm really irritated by how well it's going.”
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez, 53, has long been praised for her seemingly eternal youth – and not drinking alcohol could be the reason why.
“I don't drink or smoke or have caffeine,” the Jenny from the Block singer told US Weekly. “That really wrecks your skin as you get older.”
Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper has been sober for nearly two decades. The 47-year-old quit drinking when he was 29 after he was worried that, if he continued drinking, it was “going to sabotage my whole life”.
“I was doing these movies, and I got to meet Sandra Bullock and meet these people and work with them,” he told GQ in 2014. “And I'm sober, and I'm like, 'Oh, I'm actually myself. And I don't have to put on this air to be somebody else, and this person still wants to work with me? Oh, what the f*** is that about?' I was rediscovering myself in this workplace, and it was wonderful.”
Read more: Anthony Hopkins marks 47 years of sobriety after revealing he was in 'despair'
Florence Welch
British singer Florence Welch, 36, has been sober for nearly nine years after realising that she had “issues with alcohol” during her rise to fame with the band, Florence and the Machine.
“In terms of navigating being in the public eye, I think sobriety is the best thing I ever did,” she told podcast The Way We Are with Munroe Bergdorf in 2022.
“It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I had a problem with drinking because I was one of those drinkers where it was all or nothing. If I enjoy my drinking, I can't control it and if I control my drinking, I don’t enjoy it.”
Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor developed an alcohol addiction in the late 1990s, but has been sober for over two decades. He told Vanity Fair in 2021 that the addiction began shortly after he appeared in the 1996 film Trainspotting, which is about heroin addicts.
“I didn’t realise I would end up with addiction problems myself then,” he explained. “I became sober in 2000. So now, when I’m looking at characters who are addicts, I look at it through a different lens of understanding it more.
“An everyday part of my life is being sober. But at the same time, it’s quite an important part because it’s given me such joy and happiness and peace in a way I didn’t have before I was sober.”
Blake Lively
Despite being the wife of Ryan Reynolds, the actor who co-owns alcohol brand Aviation American Gin, Blake Lively doesn’t drink.
“I don't drink, because I don't like the effects of alcohol, but I like being a part of it,” the 35-year-old told Harpers Bazaar in 2021. “I like being social, and I like people coming together,” she added.
Zac Efron
Zac Efron, 35, has said that he found “structure” when he went sober in 2013 after checking into rehab.
“What I found is structure. That led me to a balance of opposites: You get out of life what you put in,” he told Elle magazine in 2016.
Russell Brand
In December 2022, Russell Brand, 47, marked 20 years of sobriety. He said in a post to Instagram, that his reason for going sober was to “wake up from a world of attachment” and said it would have been “impossible” without a support network around him.
“There is a way back to dignity, there is a way back to behaving responsibly and caringly – those things are all possible,” he added.
Kristin Davis
At 57 years old, Kristin Davis has been sober for over two-and-a half decades having gone teetotal when she was just 22. She was chasing her dream of being an actor when she realised she had an alcohol addiction.
“I thought: It’s going to be one or the other. I can’t really have both,” Davis told The Week in 2015.
“Sure, sometimes I miss it,” she added. “Every once in a while, I’ll be with friends and they’ll be drinking red wine and I’ll think, in a really innocent way, ‘Oh wow, that’s such a wonderful glass of red wine. Wouldn’t it be fun to drink it?’ Maybe it would be fine, but it’s really not worth the risk.”
Brad Pitt
When Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt in 2016, this prompted the 59-year-old to get sober. He subsequently spent the next 18 months attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
“I had a really cool men’s group here that was really private and selective, so it was safe,” he told GQ in 2022.
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell’s addiction to alcohol occurred when she was at the height of her supermodel career.
“The time between 1998 and 2005 was especially bad,” the now-52-year-old told Vogue in 2010.
“During that time I avoided looking in the mirror, because I didn't like the person who was looking back at me. To be honest, there were times I thought I wouldn't survive. I used to have a lot of problems. Amongst others I drank too much so I joined Alcoholics Anonymous to get and stay sober.”
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith said the decision for her to quit drinking came one night in the 1990s after she “passed out” after drinking three bottles of wine in one evening.
“Drinking red wine for me was like drinking glasses of water. I think back on my life, like, I am a walking miracle, no doubt about that,” she said during a 2021 episode of her Facebook show, Red Table Talk.
Watch: John Mayer doesn't 'really' date' after getting sober