Maddi Reese has dealt with severe depression and anxiety since she was in middle school. She began drinking with the teammates on her sixth-grade softball team.
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She tried therapy and medication. However, the Southern Hospitality star found that drinking "numbed" her more than anything else she tried.
"When I drank, I thought I was cooler, funnier, hotter, all the things," she said. "I thought, at a point, I needed alcohol or substances to make me feel cooler, or confident, or prettier, or funnier."
Maddi Reese Has Now Been Sober for 12 Years
Reese opened up about her struggles with addiction on the More Life with Carl Radke podcast. The 28-year-old DJ explained that she tried four attempts at sobriety before checking into rehab at 16.
She told Radke that she believes her experiences help her stay accountable. The podcast host and star of Bravo's Summer House is also sober. He believes it's important for other young women struggling with addiction to hear Reese's story.
"It's hard to be open about it, especially in the Bravo world, because there's the shame and the guilt," Radke said. "But once you kind of turn that over, there's been so much beauty on the other side."
Reese's Partner Is Not Sober
Reese is in a relationship with her co-star Joe Bradley. In some episodes of Southern Hospitality, she and Bradley have argued over his drinking. Radke has reached out to Bradley, inspiring him to take a break from drugs and alcohol.
Reese said she'd like for her partner to get sober. However, she knows that he has to come to that realization on his own.
"He's doing what's best for him," Radke told Reese. "But [sobriety] turns into a gift for you and vice versa."
Another member of the Southern Hospitality cast has also struggled with substances. We reported last month that Grace Lilly was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
"When asked about the pills found inside the purse, the offender stated that the blue pill was Xanax. And the white pills were birth control. The offender stated she had a prescription for the Xanax, but did not have any proof of that information available at the time," the police report stated.
You can watch Reese on the Radke's podcast below.
