Lucy Hale Opened Up About Being Sober for Two Years: "I Would't Give This Feeling Up for Anything"

She's totally thriving.

Lucy Hale is seen, outside Giambattista Valli during the Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 as part of Paris Fashion Week on September 29, 2023 in Paris, France.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Lucy Hale has further opened up about her sobriety journey, after celebrating two years sober on Jan. 2.

The Drew Barrymore Show just shared a clip from an upcoming interview with Hale on Instagram, in which the host and her guest discuss the journey of being sober. Barrymore explained that it was about two years after she stopped drinking alcohol that she discussed it publicly.

"OK, something happens at the two-year... for me, I feel like," Hale said, and Barrymore asked her why she thought that was.

"I feel like the first year, I was just like, 'OK, stay safe. Stay home,'" the Pretty Little Liars star said. "You know, certain elements of my life fell away. New people came into my life, but I felt like my second year, I learned... Like I was having fun. I learned how to... I gave a new definition to fun. Like, it just looks different these days. I was going out, I was going to the dinners, I was going to the events, I wasn't avoiding anything."

The talk show host then said that she was "having a revelation," that perhaps two years was when someone might start trusting themselves again, and be ready to share their sobriety with the world.

"I think for me it was like, 'Oh, I just feel safe in my body again.' I wouldn't give this feeling up for anything," Hale told her. "The fact that you talk so openly about this, like there's no telling how many people you've helped. You've inspired me."

Barrymore reciprocated, "You've inspired me so much."

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Hale had in fact publicly revealed her sobriety around the first year mark in February 2023, showing off a cake she got to celebrate, though she has since further opened up about her experience.

She wrote at the time, "While this journey has mostly been private, I felt compelled tonight to let anyone who is struggling know that you are not alone and you are loved."

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And a couple of weeks ago, she once again posted on Instagram to mark her second anniversary. Well wishes poured in from the likes of Troian Bellisario, Demi Lovato, Kunal Nayyar, and Lana Condor.

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Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.