As we enter double-digit episodes of our TSB podcast, you’ll notice one of my recurring questions is how fame impacts not only someone’s sobriety but also their entire outlook on the world. Our two most recent episodes addressed that, as both guests acknowledged that their relationship to fame is dicey, especially when it’s tied to success as an artist, but also to self-worth.
First up, my conversation with Elizabeth Gilbert, whose body of work and career have spanned close to three decades, and, given the enormity of her success, it feels diminishing to call her simply a “bestselling author,” which she is, but we’re talking millions and millions of books and she’s a true icon.
And you’ve probably read so much about how she was with her former partner, Raya, who relapsed spectacularly during their relationship, which opened up Gilbert’s own struggles. Substances were secondary with her, though – her addiction was people. Pleasing people, even people like Raya, who brought her perilously close to total self-destruction. My assumption was that since Gilbert has sold tens of millions of books, she’s essentially not a member of the human race anymore, closer to a space alien, but those are my own preconceptions, and she managed to convince me otherwise.
Our second guest, actor Chris Witaske, has his own hangups about public life, and his own darkness – but you wouldn’t know it by hanging out with him. He describes himself as mostly a “golden retriever” type, but there is still another side to him (the aforementioned dark one) that he still grapples with, which is tough to square since he’s one of those people that you feel genuinely HAPPY to be around. He’s just an awesome person. You can see him in “Free Bert” right now on Netflix, those amazing Progressive commercials, and he’ll be back for season 5 of “The Bear” this summer.
Next week’s guest is Alex Winter.
As usual, thanks for your continued support of TSB’s podcast. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel. And don’t forget to help us out with our Spring Membership drive!
Paid members – I’ll see you on Sunday, where I’m running some spiritual diagnostics on my debilitating control issues.
“I have a really healthy relationship with creativity, and I think it saved me. I make the thing, but I have no control over what happens to it—and it’s a joy to create regardless. The success of Eat, Pray, Love didn’t feel like it had anything to do with me, and thank God for that, because I would have been a wreck otherwise.”
“There’s something in us that scans past 99 beautiful comments just to find the one that confirms our worst fear about ourselves. And then we take that in and use it as a weapon. I have to be careful not to do that, because it gets in my head and it stays there.”
“I thought I was writing metaphorically when I used the language of addiction to describe my relationships. I would say ‘I’m like an addict,’ not ‘I am an addict,’ because I didn’t know yet. It took another two decades for the penny to drop that this wasn’t a metaphor—this is what you are, and there’s a program for it.”
“I have vivid memories of sitting on the toilet the next day, not being able to form clear sentences in my head, saying, ‘You’ve got to stop this, dude.’ And then the weekend would come and I’d do it all over again.”
“I thought that darkness was an asset because people are drawn to someone unpredictable, someone who might do something strange or dangerous. I felt like I could fulfill that role in people’s lives. But the downside is depression, panic, fear, and inadequacy.”
“I was worried when I quit drinking that I would lose that ‘kick a hole in the wall, who gives a shit’ energy. And I did—truly. But then you realize you have to rebuild a whole new version of yourself, and that’s the scary part.”
Monday: | 5:30 p.m. PT / 8:30 ET |
Tuesday: | 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET |
Wednesday: | 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET |
Thursday: | 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET (Women and non-binary meeting.) |
Friday: | 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET |
Saturday: | 9:30 a.m. PT / 12:30 p.m. ET Mental Health Focus (Peer support for bipolar/anxiety/depression) |
Sunday: | 1:00 p.m PT / 4 p.m. ET (Mental Health and Sobriety Support Group.) |
If you don't feel comfortable calling yourself an “alcoholic,” that’s fine. If you have issues with sex, food, drugs, codependency, love, loneliness, and/or depression, come on in. Newcomers are especially welcome.
Format: crosstalk, topic meeting
We’re there for an hour, sometimes more. We'd love to have you.
Meeting ID: 874 2568 6609
Password To ZOOM: nickfoles
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