"I have been working on getting sober since I was 20."

Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale has shared insights from her sobriety journey for the first time. In a recent episode of Steven Barlett's The Diary of a CEO podcast, Hale said that she was a "textbook binge drinker" and that her drinking took her to a "crazy dark place". She shared: "I have never talked publicly about being sober – I have a little over a year sobriety. I have been working on getting sober since I was 20; I’m 33. It took time. It took patience with myself." The actress continued: "I just held on to that belief that real Lucy came out when she was drinking. It also quieted my mind. My mind just doesn’t shut off and it’s exhausting. I was (a) textbook binge drinker, blackout, wouldn’t remember what I did or what I said, which is scary." Lucy then shared that she began drinking at the age of 14, and never considered herself a "normal moderate drinker". She explained: "I was willing to go to this crazy dark place every time. Of course I tried to be a moderate drinker, just having two. I have an allergy to alcohol. I cannot drink. I view it as an allergy; my brain doesn’t work the same way as someone who can just have a glass of wine. It always wants more. It’s craving that feeling." Lucy added that at one point in her life, she viewed alcohol as a "solution". Last year, however, she decided to stop drinking. She said: "I had to and wanted to get sober, January 2 2022, because I said 'I deserve more. I deserve more out of this life.' I have to try it a different way and I have to be willing to commit to it.''

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