Pooja Bhatt is almost 4 years sober, says she now understands why it’s seen as courageous to speak up about addiction

Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt has shared a new Instagram post, talking about her journey to sobriety. She is now three years and nine months sober.

Pooja, who struggled with alcoholism, is looking forward to completing four years of sobriety soon. “Three yrs & nine months sober today. One more quarter and I will be four .As someone who drank openly,I chose to recover openly.I truly felt it was important to share my journey to tell others,women especially, who might be struggling that they are not alone & if I could do it so could they,” she said.

She says she understands why speaking up about one’s addiction is considered an act of courage. “Was ridiculed by some but lauded for being courageous by most. I wondered why people termed speaking openly about addiction issues courageous. And also why there is an ‘anonymous’ attached to groups that help you recover. I understand more than ever today that it’s because people simplify/stigmatise addictive behaviour & tend to criminalise it without attempting to understand why someone used a substance to begin with.” she wrote in her post.

Pooja said that alcohol was her drug of choice. “Alcohol is a drug,and was my drug of choice.Just because it is socially acceptable does not mean it is not. I have had to make more excuses for NOT drinking in the last few yrs than I ever have for drinking-to friends,foes and ‘well’ meaning acquaintances alike,” she said. Her comment comes at a time when a few Bollywood stars have appeared on the Narcotic Control Bureau’s radar for allegedly buying and consuming drugs.

“A fractured society can only heal & evolve when we attempt to ‘understand’ instead of constantly standing in judgement. When we empathise instead of vilify. Until then and even beyond, I will continue to speak from a place of compassion & truth,in the hope that there is ONE person out there I could goad to start on their own journey of sobriety and stay on their path. So help me God! #sobrietyrocks #eachonereachone #eachonehealone #onedayatatime #onestepatatime #youarenotalone,” she wrote. Pooja has often talk about her struggle with addiction and how she finally decided to change her ways.

Pooja was last seen in her father Mahesh Bhatt’s Sadak 2. Her younger sister, Alia Bhatt, played the lead while Sanjay Dutt took on the role from the original.

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