Pooja Bhatt celebrates nearly five years of sobriety, talks about finding ‘love of her life’

Pooja Bhatt, who has battled alcoholism in the past, talked about being sober for nearly five years and how her relationship with sobriety has been a ‘deeply gratifying’ one.

Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt is celebrating as she has almost reached the five-year mark of her sobriety. She has admitted to struggling with alcoholism in the past and has been open about her recovery as well.

Pooja Bhatt in a still from the Netflix series Bombay Begums.

In an Instagram post, Pooja recalled a time when she ‘chased’ love and said that a few years ago, she found the ‘love of (her) life’ - sobriety. “I can’t remember a time when I’ve not been in love. With people, yes...but more so with the very idea of love. I looked for love everywhere I went. Chased it down unfamiliar avenues in the dead of the night & even across countries, borders, continents,” she wrote.

“Have a lot of myself to attribute to the ones who loved me back & especially the ones that didn’t. I can’t blame anyone for failing me because the truth is I more often than not, failed myself. And then one day the universe introduced me to the love of my life - Sobriety. And the need for validation from any other source ebbed. A demanding yet fulfilling lover, Sobriety breaks down your defences, bares & reveals your soul, calls out any and all bulls**t, yet clasps your hand tight & ensures you make it through many uncertain nights, filling your dawn with such unimaginable light when you do the most revolutionary thing - say NO to yourself,” she added.

Pooja called her relationship with sobriety a ‘deeply gratifying’ one. She said that it helped her overcome ‘vicious storms’, cope with loss and kept her grounded ‘through a supposed revival of fortune and fame’. She wrote, “There is no room for a third in my life at this point. My priority for the first time ever, is myself. My emotional health comes first. Sobriety, recovery gets first priority. And because recovery, like love, is selfish no matter what people say, my choice is clear- it is SINGLE BLESSEDNESS all the way!”

Also see: Pooja Bhatt schools Twitter user for dismissing her views: ‘You call yourself a Shah Rukh Khan fan?’

Last year, Pooja made her acting comeback after more than a decade with Sadak 2, which marked her filmmaker father Mahesh Bhatt’s return to direction. Earlier this year, she was seen in the Netflix series Bombay Begums.