Former ‘Batwatch:Hawaii’ and ‘Andromedia’ actress Brandy Ledford opened up during an emotional interview about what she called a ‘harrowing’ journey through substance abuse and how she hit rock bottom before turning to God to help find a way out. She praises her relationship with God, noting that ‘following His will’ gave her the path forward after leaving alcohol and pain medications behind.
“There was a moment when I realized something had to change in my life. I definitely was abusing substances in order to not have to feel my feelings, and I was doing it in a way that was really harmful to me and to my mental health and to my family, and I have a really sort of harrowing last night before I checked myself into a rehab, and I didn’t know that there was going to be a way out,” she began.
“I didn’t feel like there was a way out, and I wasn’t ready to carry on. I didn’t want to. And drinking didn’t solve my problems. Drinking, and I was addicted to prescription pain medication. It didn’t solve my problems, and in the end, it didn’t really take away any of the things I didn’t want to be feeling. And that was my last hope,” she said.
“And when I figured that that didn’t work anymore, I really just wanted to truly check out. Because I didn’t see a way out. I had all the faith in God. I had everything to live for, and I couldn’t see it. And so, I had a really horrible last night. And then the next day, I checked myself into rehab and found the way out,” she added.
“I didn’t know that I would find my best friends in sobriety. I have a really solid network of girlfriends from 40 years, and they’re here in my life. I made a couple friends in sobriety that are my life lines. I didn’t expect the friendships. I didn’t know that that was a possibility, and the community and the network of sober sisters who really support each other and lift each other up through all of the things that we go through,” she continued.
“I didn’t expect my life would be perfect. I never thought, okay, now I’m sober. Everything’s going to line up, but I do know that if I stay sober, that eventually it lines up. And I learned that from the really brave women in this recovery program. I also didn’t expect for people to want to hear from somebody in the public about their sobriety, and I didn’t expect that so many people would talk to me about my sobriety and be helped by my story,” she said.
“And what I love about that is I’m able to share my experience, and so that my experience wasn’t wasted. I went through a lot, a lot of really, really challenging, tough times, and the fact that I can use that now to help others and create some strength and hope in others and in myself is such a gift of sobriety, and it’s such a way to keep us sober is to share our stories,” she went on.
“But I never really expected that people really wanted to hear. I didn’t expect to ever talk about that in a public way, in a public way, or on a level. And I’m so proud to do so. I’m so proud to be able to help others and just share my truth, my story. And I’m not ashamed of it. You know, I just want to be able to shine a light on how good your life can get when you can be free of addiction.”
“My relationship with God has helped shape this new chapter in my life by listening to His will for asking for turning my will and my life over to God. And any time I have a decision to make, I now lean on my faith to help me with the answers for what I should do, so I really pause instead of making rash decisions, and I don’t think of the consequences, or I don’t think of others, and I, I now pause, and I, and I have even more trust in answers will come.”
“There’s an expression: trust God, clean house. And I didn’t know that before I got sober, but I always talk about how much I have faith I have. But faith and trust are so different, and it’s such a layered concept. But if I can just be honest and be true, and then trust God. I have a deeper understanding of my relationship,” she finished.