Dr Alex George opens up about going sober after going ‘all my adult life with alcohol'
EXCLUSIVE: Former Love Island star Alex George has opened up about his relationship with alcohol and why he decided to go sober.
This Morning star Dr. Alex George has opened up about his decision to quit alcohol as he marks two-and-a-half years sober. The ITV star, who first gained popularity on the reality TV show Love Island, was regularly speaks out about mental health awareness and lifestyle improvements online.
Since he launched his career as a health advocate, the 34-year-old has been praised for his Post Your Pill campaign and openly revealing his ADHD diagnosis. But in 2023, he decided to quit alcohol after more than 10 years as a regular drinker. Now, the former reality star has revealed what it was like in the first few months after going cold turkey.
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, in collaboration with supplement brand Bioglan for their fourth series of ‘In Bioglan Balance’, the medical expert confessed how he has “settled” into sober life.
He told us: “I’ve not drank now for two and a half years, so it’s been a little while but it’s still early in that journey. But I’ve really settled into the life of being sober, I don’t think about not drinking now or consider what I’m going to do at the weekend or how I’m going to have fun because I’ve learnt those things.
“In the early stages you’ve got that transitionary time where you’re trying to adapt to this new way of living. Because if you’re like me and you’re in your 30s when you stop drinking, it means that you’ve been drinking for 10 plus years.”
Dr Alex added that after he gave up alcohol he had to “relearn a new way of being” due to the societal pressures to drink in the UK. He went on: “It’s a long time in your adult life, all of my adult life has been with alcohol. So you’re trying to relearn a new way of being and that’s something that takes time.
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“But it’s something that’s quite exciting though, I’ve really enjoyed that and the discovery of it all and the fact that you can have fun not drinking, you can socialise, that life does happen outside of alcohol.”
Thankfully, the mental health advocate’s sobriety was accepted by his friends and family who embraced his huge lifestyle change. The TV star went on: “I think there is general societal thing, we are in a pro-alcohol society where alcohol is very centric in a lot of people’s activities, and it had been for mine.
“So, in that essence, yes, of course it’s part of it. But I felt with my friends and people around me in my life that everyone was kind and positive.
“There’s a huge movement towards not drinking now, about 30 to 40 per cent of under 25-year-old don’t drink. So, I think I’m doing it at the right time because there’s so many curious people, so I’ve enjoyed it.”
After two-and-a-half years of going sober, Dr Alex George added that he has no plans to return to drinking in the future, but admitted that he’s not ruiling it out.
He explained: “I don’t have a plan to go back. I think it’s important to never say never, and I don’t want to box myself in in any way, but I don’t foresee that I'll drink [in the future]. I like my life more now.
“So, I’ve really enjoyed it and my advice to people that want to try it is, why not? Set yourself 30 days or even 90 days and give it a go and see if you enjoy it.”
To listen to the series visit @bioglansupplements Spotify page and to watch snippets of the podcasts, visit @bioglansupplements on Instagram.
