Weekend Sunrise news presenter Talitha Cummins accidentally outed herself as an alcoholic on Facebook but credits the online faux pas as the best mistake of her life.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"I wasn't ready to come out to the world and wanted to delete the post [a blog for the Hello Sunday Morning forum] but accountability on that scale is great for sobriety," she told The Sun-Herald. "It was around the time when you didn't look at Facebook every two minutes on your phone, you had to log onto a computer and when I checked that it was also public on my page I saw the responses had just blown up. People were really supportive."
It was a major turning point in her recovery and it came four months after her final drink.
It even trumped her being rushed to hospital twice to have her stomach pumped, passing out with her keys in the neighbour's door and coming close to losing her dream job in Seven's Sydney newsroom. At the peak of her addiction it wasn't unusual for her to drink four bottles of wine in one sitting. Her close friends noticed something wasn't right when she once drank three bottles of champagne during a quiet night in.
"I was the modern face of an alcoholic," she said ahead of Monday's episode of Australian Story that will chronicle her struggle. "I was professional, well educated and high-functioning but it could've been much worse and I really think we need to look at that label and reassess."
After breaking down to her boss she then signed up to Alcoholics Anonymous and Hello Sunday Morning, a movement advocating alcohol behaviour change. Despite attending daily AA meetings every day for 90 days, she was still "obsessed" with alcohol and didn't socialise. She also resorted to taking a drug that made her violently ill if she drank while on it, as a kind of "insurance policy".
She now proudly has "four years of sobriety under my belt" and has married the love of her life, Flow Athletic co-founder Ben Lucas. Lucas, a personal trainer and former Cronulla Sharks player, has also sworn off alcohol in solidarity with Cummins.
The pair knew they were meant for each other when one of their first dates involved going for a run early in the morning on New Year's Day.
The couple welcomed their first child, Oliver, nine weeks ago, and Cummins will return to work at Seven next year.
Australian Story: The Big Dry airs on Monday, October 10, at 8pm on ABC & iView.
Alcoholics Anonymous: 1300 222 222
Lifeline: 13 11 14
