“From Booze to Bedtime Stories: Actor’s Shocking Family-First Transformation”

SUITS L.A. star Stephen Amell has opened up about his journey to sobriety, expressing that his role as a family man brings him more joy than any intoxicating substance ever could.

“I don’t enjoy having just one drink. That’s part of the issue,” the father of two, Maverick, 11, and Bowen, 2, revealed. “I do my utmost to avoid hard liquor completely now and make a conscious effort to refrain from drinking around my children.”

The CODE 8 actor now feels entirely at peace with his decision to drink responsibly.

“There’s nothing I cherish more right now than getting a good night’s rest,” he shared on Michael Rosenbaum’s “Inside of You” podcast. “Waking up at 6 AM, having an hour to myself before preparing breakfast for my kids, taking my daughter to school – I did the school run this morning. I adore it far more than I could ever appreciate any mind-altering substance.”

Amell previously struggled with frequent drinking, which exacerbated his anxiety. This led him to abstain from alcohol for extended periods.

“I have an addictive personality and a family history of alcoholism. So it’s a precarious situation. I’d rather not venture down that path at all,” he admitted.

“I believe it could have certainly headed in that direction if I hadn’t sorted myself out. But when you’re constantly dealing with hangovers, you lose the ability to experience genuine happiness,” he elaborated. “You miss out emotionally, you’re not present, and you’re not available in the way you should be as a partner, friend, or father. It’s just numbing you.”

He recounted an incident where he “had too many drinks” before boarding a plane with his wife. He began shouting at her after they boarded, but she remained composed.

“My wife only said one thing throughout, which was, ‘If you don’t lower your voice, they’re going to ask you to leave the plane,'” and she was correct.

This experience helped him realize he needed to quit, and he got back on track.

Amell confesses he experienced “mild sweats” when he began abstaining but now feels “significantly better.” His relationship with his wife has also “improved considerably” and they “have more fun together.”

“My eating habits are better. My appearance is better. My acting is better,” he stated.

Familyguide reported on another actor, Josh Brolin’s, contentment with his decision to remain sober:

Actor Josh Brolin, best known for his roles in AVENGERS: ENDGAME and DUNE, recently celebrated eight years of sobriety and thanked God.

“Sobriety is finally loving without every thought being about how it affects only you,” Brolin wrote in a forthcoming post to his Instagram. “Sobriety is a moment of being able to love and be consumed by the glee it brings someone else. Sobriety is knowing the difference between selfishness and integrity. Sobriety is knowing that God is in everything and that it is made up of every color (and mixture of color) that exists…”

“Sobriety is about living better than your remembrance of what your greatest drunk ever was — an everyday malleability into gratitude for what is. None of this is deserved. All of it is perception. Thank you God, family, and friends for the most punk rock sobriety imaginable,” he concluded.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Stephen Amell (@stephenamell)