Daisy May Cooper has hailed going to rehab "the best thing" she's ever done.
Daisy May Cooper went to rehab last year
The 'This Country' star - who split from husband Will Weston shortly after giving birth to their second child, Jack, now three, in October 2020 - checked into a clinic late last year because she felt "really lost" and needed a "break" from life and she thinks she couldn't have given herself a better "gift" than subsequently quitting drinking.
She told Fabulous magazine: “Going to rehab was the best thing I did.
“I just felt really lost and said to my agent: ‘I need a break from everything’.
“So I went there and now I want to write a film about it, because it was extraordinary.
“Addicts are some of the most interesting, funny, smart, creative and loving people I’ve met in my life.
“You can see why it happens. They’re sort of angels on Earth who haven’t been equipped to live amongst the muggles.
“This was all literally just before I gave up drinking, which is the biggest gift I’ve ever given myself.”
Daisy - who also has five-year-old daughter Pip with Will - has now been sober for eight months and is glad she has stopped "wasting" days being hungover after hitting the bottle to feel more comfortable when socialising.
She explained: “The biggest reason for my drinking was because I’m terrible with social situations.
“I get so anxious and felt alcohol was this superhero juice that would give me a great personality where I could talk to people.
“But I’d get such crippling hangover anxiety, I’d feel suicidal the next day.
“I was waking up thinking: ‘What did I do last night? What did I say?’ Another wasted Sunday.
“It suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have to do this any more. I didn’t have to torture myself.
“And just taking alcohol out of the equation means I’ve got time for my kids that I never had before.
“I remember rushing to read their bedtime story because I wanted them to get to sleep so I could go downstairs, have a drink and watch 'Married At First Sight'.
“Now I can be completely present.
“I’d recommend sobriety to anybody. I’m still in the early days, but it’s changed my life.”
The 37-year-old star also found balance by coming off social media and she no longer even owns a mobile phone.
She said: “I became completely obsessed with it, and it took over everything.
“It was instant gratification – I’d put something up and then be constantly refreshing the page.
“It became another ‘thing’, phone addiction.
“I haven’t had a phone for about a year and that’s been liberating.
“People can only get hold of me by email, so I have to carry my laptop everywhere. But it’s brilliant."