Russell Brand shares emotional post as he celebrates 20 years of sobriety

Russell Brand has shared a heartfelt post marking 20 years clean and sober.

The comedian, actor and self-described 'public thought leader' has spent time in rehab battling his drink and drug addiction, before quitting for good on 13 December 2002.

Watch him reflect on the huge landmark here:

The 47-year-old said his decades of sobriety have very much been a team effort, and he thanked everyone who had helped him along this path.

"I want to express my gratitude for all of the people that have helped me to remain clean and sober," he said. "It's never done on your own.

"In fact, even though it's often seen and celebrated as a personal achievement, it is in essence a community and spiritual achievement, because what I've been taught and shown is that it is impossible for a person like me to not drink and use drugs unless I have sufficient ongoing support from people that understand what it's like to feel that drugs or alcohol or certain behaviours are necessary in order to feel OK."

Instagram/@russellbrand

But while 20 years without drink or drugs is undoubtedly a huge achievement, Brand acknowledged that it is an 'ongoing process'.

He continued: "I still every day at 20 years without crack and heroin, without alcohol, I still feel strongly a a strong requirement to seek approval, or connection, or validation, or pleasure, or distraction from the outside world.

"So the first thing that I want to convey is that if you know someone who is a drug addict or an alcoholic and it seems just desperate and hopeless - I know loads of you do, and I know those of you are worried about someone you love, I know loads of you are addicts yourselves - and you feel like, 'Oh, God, it's just hopeless,' well that's not true, it is possible to change."

Brand now has two children with second wife Laura Gallacher - having previously been married to Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012 - and he said he's grateful for the life he now has.

"If you know someone who's a drug addict, or an alcoholic, or an addict of any description, there is a way back for them," he went on.

"There's a way back to dignity, there's a way back to behaving responsibly, and caringly.

"Those things are all possible, and I'm grateful that I've been given the chance to live a different life.

WENN Rights Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

"I'm a father now, I'm a husband now. I don't live in the reckless, dangerous, selfish way that I used to live.

"What's more complicated is that what begins as a journey of letting go of alcohol and drugs ultimately becomes a quest to to overcome some culturally validated problems that I think more people than just you know, bog standard - as I've been described - drug addicts experience.

"And that is the idea that you can wrestle satisfaction and pleasure and meaning out of this world."

If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support

If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can talk to FRANK. You can call 0300 123 6600, text 82111 or contact through their website 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, or livechat from 2pm-6pm any day of the week

Topics: Drugs, Celebrity

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey