Russell Brand has achieved a lot in his career. He has appeared in 17 movies, released five stand-up comedy videos, and five books - but today he's celebrating something much more important, as he explained in an extremely personal video earlier today:
Credit: Facebook / Russell Brand
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Arguably his biggest triumph has been recovering from the crippling addiction that threatened both his life and his career before it had really even started.
Today, however, he is celebrating 15 years clean of both drugs and alcohol.
The comedian, author, and actor tweeted: "Fifteen years without drugs and alcohol TODAY. Thanks to everyone that's helped me on The Path. Proof that Recovery can work for everyone."
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The star has previously been very open about his addictions and has made no bones about how difficult it has been.
He has said that his problems started as a child and have also included periods in which he has suffered with eating disorders, and sex/pornography addiction as well as his more widely known battles against heroin and alcohol.
Credit: PA
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He told The Jonathan Ross Show earlier this year: "The drug problem, I'm still recovering from it, aren't I?...
"...I have used my life as a sort of greedy experiment, gorging myself on all manner of phenomena.
"There were some brilliant bits, of course there were, some of the bits were really, really brilliant.
"But mostly, what I discovered, nothing has made me feel as good as the kind of connection that I find with people.
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"I can be a bit of a self-centred show-off and narcissistic, but when I feel connected to people, when I listen to other people... when I'm of service to other people, I feel a different type of connection that has more value."
Credit: PA
The 42-year-old has also put a lot of time and effort into helping others get the help that they need to overcome their problems with addiction.
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This has always been informed by his belief that addiction is a medical and mental health issue that is worsened by criminalisation of addicts.
He is a patron of the Focus 12 drug treatment plan, which he also used, and he hosted the 'Give It Up For Comic Relief' concert in 2013 to raise money for recovering addicts.
Recovery is the name of Brand's latest book, subtitled 'Freedom from Our Addictions'. He describes it as an 'anti-self-help book'.
He explained to The LA Review of Books: "What I mean is the central message I see jumping off the pages is that it's precisely the traits of the self-centred, individualistic, fuck-the-world-and-its-loving-sentiments attitudes that get you precisely into the fix in the first place.
"Hence it's not about self-help; rather it's all about a sober and truthful cry for human connection."
Congrats, Russell.
Words: Tom Wood
Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, Russell Brand, Addiction
