Doc Brown wrote a memoir about getting sober.
That’s the sentence I’ll be repeating at dinner parties for the next month.
Also this week: a New Kid on the Block admitted he wanted a drink after a brutal rehearsal and didn’t have one. A Bravo star is running through all five boroughs to fund addiction treatment. And a British pop star found himself on a golf course, figuring out who he is without the party.
Sober life has range.
Here’s my rule for this column. I’m not here to diagnose strangers or turn anyone’s hardest day into content. I’m here for the part of the story that gets the least coverage: what happens next. The books. The rebuilt relationships. The weird new hobbies.
I’ve been sober since May 1, 2006. Twenty years in, and I still want to hear every one of these stories. Maybe more now than ever.
Great Scott: Doc Brown Is Telling His Own Story
For a very specific generation of us, Christopher Lloyd takes up an unreasonable amount of space in our childhood memories. Doc Brown. Uncle Fester. Reverend Jim on “Taxi.”
A whole wing of the Gen X museum.
His memoir, “In My Own Time,” landed Oct. 27 from Grand Central Publishing. In it, the 88-year-old actor writes about decades of cocaine and alcohol use, a frightening night that ended with paramedics on his kitchen floor, entering rehab in 1993 and relapsing more than once before it stuck. In a PEOPLE interview the next day, he summed it up simply: “I’m glad that I’m still alive.”
Short sentence. A lot behind it.
One note, because precision matters here. This is a new memoir, not a new sobriety announcement. Lloyd writes that his last first day was an April 1, and the excerpts I’ve seen don’t name the year. I’m not going to assign the man an anniversary he hasn’t given us. That’s not how we do things at The Sober Curator.
What I’m interested in is the person behind the characters we thought we knew. You can watch someone work for 50 years and know almost nothing about the life happening outside the frame. When that person finally decides to talk, I’d rather show up curious than go hunting for the most dramatic paragraph.
I haven’t finished the book yet, so consider this a reading-list pick, not a review. But it has my full attention.
And I love a reminder that people keep revealing new dimensions of themselves at 88. You do not age out of having something worth saying.
You also, apparently, do not age out of making me buy another bookshelf.
The Hard Day Is Not the Headline
Next up: Joey McIntyre.
Yes, New Kids on the Block. We are staying firmly inside my demographic today, and I will not be taking questions.
On Oct. 26, Joey posted an Instagram Story about grueling rehearsals for “Radio Galaxy,” the Michele Aldin Kushner play he’s starring in. He said he wanted a cocktail after a long day, and he chose to stay sober anyway. Some context: Joey marked two years sober back in March, calling out the Manhattan on the rocks he no longer orders.
This is the kind of small, honest moment I think deserves real attention. Not because it’s dramatic.
Because it isn’t.
Recovery coverage tends to offer two settings: the catastrophe or the cake. The worst day or the anniversary. But most of sober life happens in between. Deadlines. Hard conversations. Days when you’re grateful for an opportunity and would also like everyone involved in that opportunity to stop emailing you.
Both can be true.
My takeaway is not that we should worry about Joey. It’s that we can let someone talk honestly about stress without treating that honesty like a forecast. A difficult feeling is not a celebrity scandal. And being sober does not obligate anyone to deliver a daily testimonial about how effortlessly wonderful everything is.
You can love your sober life and still have a day that feels like it was assembled by a committee of your enemies.
I know this one personally. I had days in my early sobriety, and I still have days at almost 20 years, where the thought shows up uninvited. The win was never that the thought stopped coming. The win is what I do next.
Staying sober happens inside real life. Not after real life finally becomes manageable. If I’d waited for the calendar to clear and everyone to behave, I’d still be waiting.
So this isn’t a breaking news banner. It’s a nod of recognition. Hard day, honest admission, still showing up.
That deserves space too.
26.2 Miles With a Purpose
From rehearsal rooms to running shoes.
“Summer House” star Carl Radke sat down with Decider on Oct. 26 to talk about training for the TCS New York City Marathon, which runs this Sunday, Nov. 1. He’s running for the Release Recovery Foundation, the nonprofit founded by Zac Clark that pays for addiction and mental health treatment for people who can’t afford it. Carl has been sober since 2021, ran his first NYC Marathon in 2025, knocked out London this spring and opened Soft Bar, a non-alcoholic bar and cafe in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Now, let me be very clear.
You do not have to run a marathon to prove your sobriety is working. There will be no fitness test at the end of this article.
Some of us are building endurance. Some of us are building a rhinestone collection. We all have our interests.
What catches my eye is the link between a personal goal and something bigger than yourself. It’s also a welcome shift in what we choose to notice about reality TV people. We can follow the relationship drama and the reunion seating chart. Or we can spend a minute on what someone is building off camera.
I’m interested in that second category.
A marathon doesn’t prove someone is a good person, and exercise is not a substitute for recovery support. But building a life includes finding somewhere to put your energy. Somewhere to participate, contribute and connect around something you actually care about.
The question isn’t only what you stopped doing. It’s what you want to do now.
For Carl, the answer is 26.2 miles through New York City.
For me, it involves cheering from a location with very comfortable seating. Both are valid.
Who Am I Without the Party?
Our fourth story: singer-songwriter Tom Grennan.
The Oct. 26 episode of Matt Willis’ podcast “On The Mend,” titled “18 Holes With Tom Grennan: Sobriety, Fatherhood and Starting Again,” digs into identity after giving up alcohol and drugs. It covers self-forgiveness, becoming a dad and the connection he’s found playing golf with friends.
That identity question is the whole reason this one made my list.
Who am I if I’m not the party person? Am I still funny? Still interesting? Still someone people want to invite?
And, slightly more inconveniently: what do I actually like?
When drinking has been attached to every other thing (dinner, dating, vacations, concerts, celebrating, being disappointed, being mildly inconvenienced on a Thursday), untangling it all takes a minute.
When I got sober in 2006, I genuinely did not know what I liked to do on a Friday night. It took me years to find my people and my places. Some of my favorite things now, I didn’t discover until well into sobriety.
My interest here is not golf. No offense to golf. You have lovely landscaping.
It’s the idea of finding a different way to spend time with people. A standing plan with friends can matter. A hobby can matter. Having somewhere to go where you don’t have to perform the old version of yourself can matter a lot.
I also love that this conversation makes room for self-forgiveness. We talk constantly about changing behavior. We don’t talk nearly enough about how we relate to the person we used to be.
You don’t have to turn your past into a punchline every time you explain your present.
None of Them Owes Us a Perfect Recovery Story
Christopher Lloyd telling his story. Joey McIntyre owning a hard day. Carl Radke putting his energy into something with purpose. Tom Grennan figuring out who he is on the other side.
Different people. Different circumstances. Same through line.
What I want from sober pop culture is more room to see the whole life. The work. The friendships. The awkward parts. The fun. The ordinary Tuesday that would never make a magazine cover but still counts.
Now I want to hear from you: what’s something you discovered, or rediscovered, that you actually enjoy in sobriety? I want the oddly specific answers.
Watch the full episode of This Week in Sober Pop Culture on The Sober Curator YouTube channel, then join BACKSTAGE with The Sober Curator to get this conversation every week.
Sources for your description and paired article
- Christopher Lloyd: PEOPLE interview via AOL, Oct. 28 · Publisher’s memoir page, released Oct. 27
- Joey McIntyre: PEOPLE, Oct. 27, reporting his Oct. 26 Story
- Carl Radke: DECIDER interview, Oct. 26
- Tom Grennan: Official On The Mend episode, Oct. 26
You’re not new to this. You’re ready for what’s next.
And not everyone gets here.
You’ve done the hard part.
You’re sober. You’re clear.
You’ve built a life that no longer revolves around alcohol.
Now you’re ready for something more.
You want better conversations.
More connection.
More culture.
More expansion.
You’re not looking for another recovery meeting.
You’re looking for a room that reflects who you are now.
This is for you if this sounds like you:
- You’re sober and stable.
- You’ve outgrown. traditional recovery spaces.
- You want more than support — you want connection, culture, and momentum.
- You’re ready for what comes after survival.
That’s exactly what BACKSTAGE was built for. LEARN MORE AND JOIN US TODAY →
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