For 30 years Neal Justin has been writing about what we've been watching and listening to. As the Star Tribune's entertainment reporter covering the worlds of TV, radio and comedy, he gets to travel to places like Hollywood on a regular basis, and has interviewed and rubbed shoulders with celebrities his entire career.
With that, Justin was no stranger to parties, late nights, and alcohol.
"I was what they would define as a functional alcoholic for most of that time, which basically means you're drinking too much but your life goes on as normal for the most part,” Justin told WCCO’s Laura Oakes. “It's not interfering with work or relationships or your life. And for a good part of that run it was a great deal of fun. I met a lot of people and went on a lot of adventures.”
Justin said that all the adventures had to come to an end however. He says the bad started to outweigh the good.
"But you keep going and the ratio changes,” Justin explained on this week’s episode of Laura’s Good News. “The good times are not so good and the bad times get worse. And that really started to happen in my mid-forty's. Even though it was pretty obvious it was starting to get in the way of everything else, for people that know anything about addiction, that devil inside does a pretty good job of telling you 'that's not the problem, it's got to be something else.' And it becomes your best friend, and then your only friend.”
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Justin says he was exhausted when he hit his cliff in his mid-forty's, crashing his car and getting arrested. His shame and embarrassment finally drove him to enter Hazelden's alcohol treatment program. Now sober for nearly seven years, he's traveling as much as possible and says he doesn't miss his old life a bit.
"I had had my ride,” says Justin. “I'd kind of done it all. And I was tired. So I don't really miss that life other than sort of the unpredictability of it. You know, you're going home at 8:30 instead of midnight. I guess you miss some things but, again, I'm at an age where that's ok. I've done it. I've been to those parties that last until four in the morning. I don't need to do that anymore."
Laura’s Good News airs Sunday mornings at 6:30 on News Talk 830 WCCO and is available anytime on the Audacy app.
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