Sharon Horgan has opened up for the first time about trying to give up alcohol, revealing she was sober for three years before falling off the wagon when her father died.
The Bad Sisters creator and star, 55, said she had been happily living drink-free before her father, John Horgan, died at Christmas 2023.
The loss, she explained, brought her and her siblings together and, for the first time in years, she decided to raise a glass.
She said: ‘It wasn’t like, ”My dad died and I had to have a drink”.
‘I just wanted to, with my brothers and sisters, drink a Guinness. We all needed it.’
She continued: ‘I didn’t go back in full bore. It was very, very occasional.’
Sharon Horgan has opened up for the first time about trying to give up alcohol, revealing she was sober for three years before falling off the wagon when her father died
The Bad Sisters creator and star, 55, said she had been happily living drink-free before her father, John Horgan, died at Christmas 2023
Sharon added to Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast: ‘I was still on my sort of smug thing because I was like, ‘I just don’t drink it the same way anymore.’ And then suddenly it sort of creeps in again.’
The Irish actress and writer has previously spoken about how she halted production of the second season of the hit Apple TV series Bad Sisters so she could be with her family after her father died.
Announcing his passing on social media at the time, she wrote: ‘My darling dad died at Christmas.’
He had reportedly been ill for some time.
The Catastrophe star said she had originally quit drinking in her early fifties as part of a broader effort to feel healthier and more in control of her life.
Sobriety, she explained, had given her a new sense of clarity and energy – even if it made her a little insufferable in the process.
‘I loved it,’ she admitted. ‘Apparently I was annoying. I wasn’t, like, evangelical, but I was just suddenly going on walks for no reason other than to enjoy the beauty of the walk.
‘Prior to that, there had to have been a pub at the end of it. It gave me a whole new perspective, and I loved it. I figure my brain was on fire at the time.’
Sharon has previously spoken about how she halted production of the second season of the hit Apple TV series Bad Sisters so she could be with her family after her father died
She had originally quit drinking in her early fifties as part of a broader effort to feel healthier and more in control of her life
Sharon – who has two daughters, Sadhbh, 21 and Amer, 17, with ex-husband Jeremy Rainbird – added: ‘I remember saying to my daughters, ‘Do you remember when I used to drink a glass of wine every night with dinner? Then sometimes I would have two glasses of wine?’
‘And they couldn’t remember it and I was like, well, that’s great. Because I thought that would be something that they’d be really aware of. So I started slightly getting back into that. Now I’ve stopped.’
After splitting from businessman Jeremy in 2019 after 14 years of marriage, Sharon dated The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess for two years
Just two months ago confirmed she is dating her Bad Sisters co-star, Barry Ward.
She compared the enthusiasm she felt when she returned to booze after years away from it to another major lifestyle change she once made.
‘It was the excitement of suddenly drinking again,’ she said. ‘I got a bit giddy. I was buying nice wines.
Just two months ago Sharon confirmed she is dating her Bad Sisters co-star, Barry Ward
‘It was like, I remember when I started eating meat for the first time after 16 years. I was so horny for meat. I was just like, ‘Give me meat!’ So it was a bit like that with the booze.’
But, she added, she’s learned to temper that eagerness.
‘It’s not like a habit,’ she said. ‘It was a habit before, where you don’t even notice that you’re drinking wine because you’re just always drinking wine.’
Alcohol isn’t the only vice in her life. She added: ‘I was very addicted to vaping and nicotine gum and occasional rollies. So I did some hypnotherapy about four years ago.’