Lauren Cowell says going sober is ‘most significant change’ she's made in life
Lauren Cowell is the latest in a long line of celebrities to announce she’s taken a step back from alcohol, with the socialite admitting she has gone completely cold turkey on consumption.
The 49-year-old, fiancée of music mogul and Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell, recently sat down with nutritionist Gabriela Peacock to admit that perimenopause really spurred her to quit the bottle.
Speaking to the expert during an episode of the Daily Mail’s Spotlight on YouTube, Cowell—formerly Silverman—said: “In perimenopause and menopause, you have so many symptoms in your body, your emotions, and your hormones.
“Everything is changing, and with alcohol in the mix it causes a lot of havoc."
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Due to the major health change, the mother of two opted to step back from alcohol.
“I stopped drinking alcohol not too long ago, about a year and a half ago. It's been the single most significant change in my entire life, I feel so much better for it," she said in the clip.
Unlike some famous faces, Cowell said that she didn’t find it too difficult to give up alcohol, claiming that once she decides to do something, she is ‘very disciplined’.
“We socialised a lot less since Covid so that helped, but when I first stopped drinking, I avoided going to really social gatherings for the first few weeks.
“It was easier with friends who know what I was doing, but not drinking was trickier at big social events,” she confessed.
The American initially set short, achievable sober goals: stay off booze for one week, then two, gradually building it up to months and years.
She simultaneously gave up smoking, explaining: “It was always hand in hand with alcohol. I gave up smoking and drinking on the same day, cold turkey.”
Despite the likes of Tom Holland dabbling in non alcoholic drinks, Cowell proclaimed that she was not a fan, suggesting they ‘taste cheap like grape juice’.
Elsewhere in the interview, the Netflix star revealed that she and her long-term partner ‘prefer’ cosy nights in eating as opposed to heading to swanky restaurants.
"I prefer a home-cooked meal to eating out. I'm not saying I’m the one cooking, but we are like homebodies; we don’t really go out anymore."
Cowell’s sober confession comes just days after Sir Elton John called his alcohol-free life his ‘greatest achievement’.
“I’ve been sober for 36 years and my life has never been better,” the ‘Candle in the Wind’ icon told Hello! Magazine.
"I nearly lost everything through my addictions, and becoming sober has been one of my greatest achievements. I’ve been so lucky to have the life I’ve had and it keeps getting better."
The composer, born Reginald Dwight, attended Lutheran General Hospital in Chicago for a six week period after choosing to quit drugs and alcohol.
He joined Alcoholics Anonymous whilst receiving treatment—a habit he’s kept up throughout the rest of his life.
“My sobriety has brought me everything that I could possibly wish for,’ he told Variety in 2004.
If you've been affected by addiction and want to speak to someone in confidence, you can call American Addiction Centers on (888) 324-0595, available 24/7, or contact them through their website.
Sober celebrities
Tom Holland
Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s leading man has been open and honest about his root to sobriety.
"I didn't one day wake up and say, 'I'm giving up drinking.' I just - like many Brits - had had a very boozy December. Christmas time, I was on vacation, I was drinking a lot,” the 30-year-old told Jay Shetty on his *On Purpose* podcast.
As a result, he embarked on a ‘Dry January’ challenge—and he’s not looked back since.
“I could sleep better, I could handle problems better - things that would go wrong on set that would normally set me off, I could take in my stride,” The Odyssey star said.
Anne Hathaway
It’s been more than seven years since actress Anne Hathaway opted to quit drinking.
She vowed to cut out alcohol when her ten-year-old son Jonathan was just a toddler.
“I'm going to stop drinking while my son's living in my house just because I don't totally love the way I do it, and he's getting to an age where he really does need me all the time in the morning,” she said during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
She added that she experienced a hangover while dropping her child off at school: "That was enough for me. I didn't love that one.”
Daniel Radcliffe
Broadway darling and Harry Potter alumnus Daniel Radcliffe decided in the early 2010s that enough was enough; his alcohol dependence needed to come to an end.
Having used booze to cope with the intense anxiety and pressure of global stardom for years, the 37-year-old claimed it took a ‘couple of attempts’ before he was able to kick the habit for good.
“As much as I would love to be a person that goes to parties and has a couple of drinks and has a nice time - that doesn't work for me,” he said, as per I Am Sober.
“I do that very unsuccessfully. I'd just rather sit at home and read, or go out to dinner with someone, or talk to someone I love, or talk to somebody that makes me laugh.”
Ella Scott