Home and Away star Emily Weir, 31, shares her alcoholism battle and reveals she goes to AA meetings: ‘I’m lucky to have found the help I needed’
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Home and Away star Emily Weir has revealed how her years-long struggle with ‘crippling anxiety’ led to alcohol addiction.
The actress told Who magazine she would regularly use wine as a crutch after she began suffering panic attacks as a teenager and felt she had no other way to cope.
Weir, 31, who today is sober with the help of counselling and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, now wants to talk about her journey to ‘raise awareness’ of addiction.
Speaking out: Home and Away star Emily Weir has revealed how her years-long struggle with ‘crippling anxiety’ led to alcohol addiction
‘The more you shine a light on anxiety and addiction, the less power it has,’ she said.
‘It’s definitely not easy, but by speaking out, I hope anyone else who is struggling realises that these issues can and do affect anyone – and I’m passionate about shining that light on something that affects so many of us.’
Weir said she first began experiencing anxiety and panic attacks when she was just 19, shortly after her parents divorced.
She went through ‘what was effectively a nervous breakdown’, yet had no idea what anxiety was because it wasn’t commonly discussed at the time.
Brave: ‘The more you shine a light on anxiety and addiction, the less power it has,’ Weir (pictured in September 2020) told Who Magazine this week
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Weir said she turned to alcohol to cope and soon became ‘reliant on booze’, before eventually being forced to address her problem after ‘one messy night too far’.
She has since learned to manage her addiction with the help of AA and counselling.
‘I feel very lucky to have found the help that I needed,’ she said. ‘There’s no right or wrong way through this for anyone, but I am fortunate I found a way that works for me.’
Weir landed her breakthrough role as restaurateur Mackenzie Booth on Home and Away in 2019.
Path to sobriety: ‘I feel very lucky to have found the help that I needed,’ she said. ‘There’s no right or wrong way through this for anyone, but I am fortunate I found a way that works for me’
Prior to that, she had appeared in the television series The Sleepover Club in 2003.
Weir once described her casting on Home and Away as a dream come true.
‘It was like winning the Lotto for myself and for all my extended family members,’ she told New Zealand website Stuff.
‘My family still watches Home and Away. They call it Homie. When Homie is on, everything just shuts down. You are not allowed to make calls or anything.’
- For support for alcohol-related problems and addiction you can contact Turning Point Services, or one of the many other services available, speak to your GP, local health service or call a helpline
- There are trained telephone counsellors available in all Australian states and territories
Fame: Weir landed her breakthrough role as restaurateur Mackenzie Booth on Home and Away in 2019
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