In this episode of the podcast, Ian Harvie joined me on my couch to talk about his childhood in rural Maine, his journey to discovering his true gender identity, his recovery from alcoholism, and his new life in sobriety as a trans comic.
Author Sarah Hepola isn’t just a writer but the author of the biggest book about addiction since A Million Little Pieces (as a fellow author of a book about addiction, this pains me to write but only a little because her book is so God damn good).
Hepola’s memoir, Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget, has been written about in seemingly ever publication known to man, clearly striking a chord among the recovery community and beyond. The Texas-based Salon essay editor has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Glamour, The Guardian, Nerve and Slate, among others, and is as modest about her book’s success as possibly only a Texan can be.
In this episode, we talk about the relative coolness of sobriety, crying every day, whether or not Tinder dating profiles should mention sobriety and if a best-selling book can actually make you happy, among many other topics.
Actress and artist Jemima Kirke came on the podcast. Yes, those are thrilling words to write. This is not only exciting because she’s luminous, talented and plays Jessa on freaking Girls but also because she has a history with substances that you don’t hear many people share about.
After a wild youth, which included multi-day benders and bouts of depression, Kirke showed up at her mom’s in early 20s, saying she was ready for rehab. She went from one treatment center to the next, finding enough fault with the program there for her to be kicked out (but not before meeting the man she eventually married, who happens to now own a sober living).
After years of staying sober and doing the 12-step thing, Kirke began to question whether the one-size-fits-all philosophy about addiction applied to her. And so she had a drink. Contrary to what she’d been told, nothing bad happened. That was a few years ago and in that time, she’s watched her career rise to superstardom and embraced motherhood (in addition to the two kids she has with her husband, she is also the step-mother to his kids from a previous marriage).
In this episode, we talk about self-hatred, rehabs just out to take your money and if meeting your future spouse in treatment is “trauma bonding,” among other topics.
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What is there to say about Moby that hasn’t already been said?
The legendary musician, who burst onto the scene with his fifth studio album, Play, is also a DJ, photographer and soon-to-be memoirist (we all know he’s a descendant of Herman Melville, right?) And it’s not just his own music he’s had a hand in; the active animal rights supporter has remixed, co-written and produced music for many of the other greats.
But let's talk about how, in his 40s, he launched into a whole new life: after a bout with sobriety when he was a Christian, Moby developed this reputation as something of a puritan. But he was actually boozing it up, as well as taking plenty of recreational illegal substances, while he brought the party back to his place. It wasn’t until he got to his 40s and the hangovers started to get debilitating that he started to look at the possibility of sobriety. Now he’s years into the sober game and growing all the time. In this episode, he and I talk about deciding to get sober, relapsing, how unappealing the thought of having just a drink or two is and and the fact that people still come up to him on the street to thank him for the epic parties he used to have, among many other topics.