Jason Wahler is opening up about the biggest battle of his life: the one for sobriety!
The well-known star of The Hills and its reboot, The Hills: New Beginnings, joined Dr. Drew Pinsky on Thursday for a special edition of the doc’s Therapy Thursday work. Along with it, the reality TV mainstay opened up to E! News journos about “another slip” he suffered — a setback in his ongoing quest for life-long sobriety after last appearing one of their shows.
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Speaking on this morning’s E! show Daily Pop, Wahler revealed to hosts Justin Sylvester and Melanie Bromley that he recently suffered a setback regarding his battle with addiction. The 33-year-old TV star explained:
“Today I am doing phenomenal, but in an effort of honesty and transparency, since [appearing on Just the Sip] I had another slip. What keeps me going is the honesty, the transparency, and being vulnerable. By expressing vulnerability, it creates humility and lets people know they are not alone when this stuff does happen.”
Wow! Talk about transparency, indeed! Good for him for coming forward with things like that, because it no doubt will help his accountability moving forward as he tries to stay sober.
BTW, as it turned out, the instance he was referring to occurred after a September 2019 appearance on the E! digital series where Wahler opened up about his body image and mental health.
Dr. Drew felt largely the same way, too, adding this about Jason during the segment itself:
“Jason is an inspiration and miracle. I look at the slips as just learning opportunities for you. The problem is when people slip and just stay out or they start bs’ing and confiscating. This man remains my guiding light. And this is what people don’t understand. They say he’s not staying sober. No, this is a sober dude that is struggling with more and more tender issues as he gets deeper into his sobriety. What I hear is he’s getting into the more tender parts of himself and he’s more and more vulnerable and so the symptoms are emerging but it’s because he’s getting more real about who you are and what is going on.”
Powerful stuff, indeed. Here’s hoping Wahler can continue to dig deep on some of these “tender” underlying issues, as Pinsky notes, to better help himself long-term in the never-ending battle to remain sober.
Related: Making Amends With Lauren Conrad Was Key For Jason’s Sober Journey!
Wahler’s wife, Ashley (pictured above, alongside Jason) also joined the pair for the show today, and she opened up a bit more about why Jason’s most recent relapse was unique too — and why they’ve been able to move forward from it:
“I think the reason why this was different is because my boundaries are getting stronger. It’s like a muscle I haven’t used ever before and now I am strong in that sense so instead of my boundaries moving with where wherever he goes, my boundaries are very firm. We were all supposed to go up to Northern California together as a family. It was during the holidays and I said, ‘You can’t go. You have to really work on yourself.’ And that was the first time I ever left him to sink in his stuff.”
And work, he has!
Here’s to Jason continuing to get and stay sober for his family, friends, and loved ones… he clearly has a lot of love and support out there, too! So great!
[Image via WENN/Instar]
