Pooja Bhatt celebrates five years of quitting alcohol, pens emotional note

Pooja Bhatt on Thursday marked five years of sobriety and said she feels grateful towards life. “Happy Birthday to me! Five years sober today. Gratitude. Humility. Liberty,” she wrote. The 49-year-old actor also shared the same post on Instagram alongside a photo of her and said sober is the new sexy. Pooja has often talked about battling alcoholism. She first opened up about her journey in a Mumbai Mirror interview in 2017, months after having decided to quit.

Happy Birthday to me! Five years sober today. Gratitude. Humility. Liberty. 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/MVYOEShGdK

— Pooja Bhatt (@PoojaB1972) December 23, 2021

“I want to bust the stigma attached to alcoholism in our country. Women particularly are discouraged from seeking help because it’s a matter of shame for the family. We don’t share our pain or frailties, we cover our weaknesses and it becomes a cancer,” she told the tabloid. The actor also told the daily that it was one message from her filmmaker father Mahesh Bhatt that made her think about it.

Last year, she wrote an elaborate post on Instagram, sharing her thoughts. “Three yrs & nine months sober today. One more quarter and I will be four. As someone who drank openly, I chose to recover openly. I truly felt it was important to share my journey to tell others, women especially, who might be struggling that they are not alone & if I could do it so could they. Was ridiculed by some but lauded for being courageous by most”. She also talked about the need to open up about her recovery from alcoholism. “I wondered why people termed speaking openly about addiction issues courageous. And also why there is an ‘anonymous’ attached to groups that help you recover. I understand more than ever today that it’s because people simplify/stigmatise addictive behaviour & tend to criminalise it without attempting to understand why someone used a substance to begin with. Alcohol is a drug, and was my drug of choice. Just because it is socially acceptable does not mean it is not. I have had to make more excuses for NOT drinking in the last few yrs than I ever have for drinking-to friends, foes and ‘well’ meaning acquaintances alike. A fractured society can only heal & evolve when we attempt to ‘understand’ instead of constantly standing in judgement. When we empathise instead of vilify. Until then and even beyond, I will continue to speak from a place of compassion & truth, in the hope that there is ONE person out there I could goad to start on their own journey of sobriety and stay on their path. So help me God! #sobrietyrocks #eachonereachone #eachonehealone #onedayatatime #onestepatatime #youarenotalone”.On the work front, she was last seen in this year’s Netflix drama series Bombay Begums.