Learning to cope. Hannah Brown revealed that she turned to alcohol to cope with her sudden fame and the anxiety associated with being in the public eye.
“I’ve never been a drunk before, and I’ve been on TV every Monday for a whole year, and I didn’t know how to deal with my life being so publicly shown,” the 27—year-old Alabama native said during an appearance on The Tamron Hall Show on Friday, April 29. “[I] always lived with a smile on my face and, you know, tried to pretend that everything was fine. But then, when I was home alone, the only thing that really gave me solace was a glass of wine.”
Brown added that it soon took “more” to deal with what she felt inside. “[I] have no excuses for the mistakes I made, but I was also not in the best place of life,” the former bachelor explained. “And [I] didn’t know what resources I had to get this help.”
The former pageant queen previously spoke about her struggle with alcohol in her memoir, “God Bless this Mess,” writing that on May 16, 2020, she “started drinking at 11 a.m.—and never stopped. …I started drinking more. Sometimes a lot more. I think it was another way to avoid big problems.”
Brown told Entertainment Tonight in November 2021 that she started drinking after breaking up with Season 15 winner Jed Wyatt after it was revealed that he had a girlfriend when he came to the “Bachelorette Party.” When her runners-up Tyler Cameron and Peter Weber failed, her drinking worsened.
“It was very interesting to see how it comes from one glass of wine, two glasses of wine, three glasses of wine, tequila,” she explained at the time. “I definitely overestimated how much alcohol is a part of my life… You just won’t find in it what your heart needs. I think just a lot of people, we do it. It’s like we’re filling a void. I definitely found myself in this cycle.”
The champion of the 28th season of Dancing with the Stars continued: “I am very glad that I received the necessary help. Therapy, the emotional support I needed to deal with my own things going on in my heart and mind, and just my mental health, so [alcohol] is not something I resort to for any consolation. ”
Brown also believes that her relationship with boyfriend Adam Woolard has helped her focus on her personal growth. “We are people who don’t find integrity in each other, but become whole people as individuals who can then enhance each other’s growth,” she told Tamron Hall on Friday. “And that’s something I don’t think I’ve ever had someone who is equally encouraged and motivated by continuing to challenge and get better, move forward and grow in life like me.”
She added, “[I] really see the progress I’ve made only in how I look at my relationship and how I look at my relationship with myself.”
