Johnny Depp

I really want to give Johnny Depp a big hug.

There's nothing especially new there, in that I don't expect I'd ever have turned down a snuggle with Mr Depp, but right now he could definitely use one.

I know his wife, Amber Heard, alleges that he physically and emotionally abused her over a number of years, and I absolutely do not condone domestic violence, however no-one really knows what goes on in anyone else's marriage, and whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation, Johnny is obviously a man in trouble.

When Johnny split up with Vanessa Paradis, mother of his two children, and partner of fourteen years, in 2012, he stayed sober. He said this:

In terms of the breakup, I definitely wasn't going to rely on the drink to ease things or cushion the blow or cushion the situation 'cause that could have been fatal.

I felt it was my duty to be real clear throughout that. I had something pretty serious to focus on, really, which was making sure that my kids were gonna be cool.

That is exactly how I felt when, after eight months sober, I got a cancer diagnosis. Drinking through it might have killed me, and certainly would have made me unable to focus on my children.

(See my post: When Life Throws You Lemons).

However, this time Johnny hasn't been able to follow his own advice, and he has the puffy, vacant, haunted look of a drinker self medicating his way through trauma.

Alcohol addiction shows no respect for fame or fortune. In fact, the famous seem to have a higher likelihood of substance abuse than we lesser mortals.

I imagine that this is partly down to the stresses that come with fame. Depp has talked poignantly in the past about how his dream would be being able to take his children to Disneyworld like any ordinary Dad.

I never wanted to be the guy people looked at. I felt I could only be myself when I was alone, that I turned into some kind of novelty. The only way I could get through that time was to drink.

I also think that we drinkers have a tendency to think that we are 'special', in some way, and that the ordinary rules don't apply to us. (How I used to laugh in the face of government drinking guidelines). Celebs, I imagine, are even more prone to this dangerous arrogance.

But whatever the trigger for the drinking, the reason we all end up doing too much of it is exactly the same. As Johnny says:

I was poisoning myself with alcohol and medicating myself. I was trying not to feel things, and that's ridiculous.

Oh yes. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt.

So let's all give Johnny a big, virtual hug. He's been sober before - for years at a time - and he can do it again. He doesn't even need to rely on finding sober friends on the internet - in the past he's travelled with his own personal 'sober buddy' to keep him on the straight and narrow.

Do you think he might be recruiting?

Happy, sober Saturday to you all!

SM x