To be clear, Bradley Cooper himself did not ruin date night. However, his scene in the movie, “A Star is Born” turned a light-hearted, fun night out into a sob fest. His portrayal was so perfect, it made me wonder at the time if he himself had gone through recovery (I’ve since learned he has by his open admission).
Going into it, I wasn’t entirely sure what the movie was about. Had I known, I may have suggested watching it in the comfort of my own living room with a box of tissues. I feel so sorry for the poor schmuck who sat next to me in the theatre (and for my poor husband who was on the other side).
The movie was fantastic. I thought both Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga were excellent but, because I’m in recovery, I resinated with Bradley Cooper’s character more.
I was able to control my emotions until [spoiler alert ahead] Bradley Cooper’s scene in rehab. The look on his face took me right back to a familiar place and time, over 5 years ago.
Then they came.
Heaving sobs.
Big, heaving sobs (it got ugly).
He nailed his portrayal of early recovery—the feelings of despair and fear so perfectly depicted in his eyes and facial expression.
Getting sober is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Early recovery was not easy however it changed my life in ways that I would never have imagined. Watch this video if you’re in early recovery, thinking about getting sober or know someone who is struggling. There is hope – I promise!
transcript
Speaker 1: (00:00)
Hey, happy Friday. Karen here. I was reminded of something this morning on the treadmill, because of song came on and took me back and I thought it was be important to come on and share it because there is an important message in it. It was a time that Bradley Cooper ruined my date night a couple of years ago. My husband and I had decided that we’d go on a date night. We didn’t do it often, but we both wanted to see “A star is born”. I didn’t know a lot about the movie. I hadn’t seen any of the earlier versions, but it looked, you know, it intrigued me. So we set out and we went to Firebirds first for brick oven pizza. We go all out when we go on date night and then we go to the movie theater and I’m enjoying the movie.
Speaker 1: (00:56)
It’s great. I mean that scene, that scene with shallow, really. I mean, I still get goosebumps when I hear that freaking song and I’m starting to watch Bradley Cooper spiral out of control with his drinking. And just a side note, I’m in recovery. I’m starting to watch and it’s, it’s really sad to watch, very sad to watch, but then comes the scene, the scene to end all scenes. The scene where he wakes up in, in rehab, he admitted himself into rehab and he’s in a meeting and the look in his eyes, I still get a little teary with it. I know it’s a movie, but I thought at that point he must be in recovery because that look, I don’t think there’s faking that shit. It totally took me back. That look was a look of being so lost, so confused, not knowing what to do, being so vulnerable and feeling so exposed because you’ve used something, you’ve used alcohol or something for so long and now you don’t have it and everybody can see you.
Speaker 1: (02:16)
It’s like they can see you naked and you don’t know what to do. I mean you don’t know how to act. They can finally see you when you’ve used alcohol or whatever for so long and it just brought out the tears like you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t believe . Just sobbing! In retrospect I should have really left the damn theater because the poor person next to me, my husband too, but my husband is kind of used to me being an obnoxious, mess, but the poor person next to me did not deserve that. It hit me like a ton of bricks because that look, I knew it because I felt it when I was newly getting sober. That awkwardness. I just remember sitting on the sidelines, sitting in the kitchen, in the corner, feeling so fidgety, not knowing what to do with myself, not knowing my next move, not knowing how to do anything in life without having the comfort of a drink. I remember wondering, which, this sounds outrageous to me now, but it didn’t at the time. I remember wondering, will I ever really laugh again? Not laugh like [inaudible] because I was doing a lot of that but really laugh like joy because that seemed so freaking far away to me at the time.
Speaker 2: (03:47)
[inaudible]
Speaker 1: (03:49)
but here’s the good news and here is really what I want to share. Here’s the message. It’s temporary, it is temporary. And not only is it temporary
Speaker 2: (03:59)
[inaudible]
Speaker 1: (04:01)
the other side, when you get through it, it’s better than you ever thought. I promise you I’m doing things today that blow my mind.
Speaker 2: (04:11)
[inaudible]
Speaker 1: (04:13)
and it’s because I got sober, my new blog, fork freedom. It’s all because I needed something to do with myself, right? I was, I was anxious and I, I couldn’t be in a conversation. I needed to be busy. And so I started cooking and that led me to something else which led me to something else. And now I get so excited to get out of bed because I can’t wait to start my day. That is so far from where I was five years ago. I can’t even tell you. So I want you to know two things. One, it is temporary, but two, if you are going through that now, if you are thinking about getting clean and worried because you’re going to feel like this
Speaker 2: (05:00)
[inaudible]
Speaker 1: (05:02)
you need to get your butt to a meeting, get with other people who have been where you are, who could take your hand and show you the way and listen to them. Do what they tell you to do because they know better than you how to get out of it. And if you do that, if you listen to them and you start taking the steps to get help, I promise you, your life will look so much better. So if you’re watching this and you’re going through that now, or if you know somebody who’s going through it, please pass this along. Really, I’m not a huge fan of coming on live and talking about this stuff, but really what compelled me to do it is I really truly want people to know that it gets better, that there is hope, but they have to take some steps to get there. That is my happy, uplifting, joyous message for this Friday. I hope you have a fantastic weekend.
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