It’s the New Year, which means millions of Americans are making resolutions to hit the gym, eat healthier, and ditch alcohol.
In fact, it is estimated that up to 75 million Americans will participate in Dry January, an increasingly popular trend that involves giving up alcohol for a month.
This would be the biggest dry January yet since the movement began in 2013.
Giving up alcohol, even for a month, has been shown to produce a number of benefits, including more restful sleep, weight loss, clearer skin, and even a healthier liver.
A growing number of celebrities have even taken some steps toward Dry January and quit alcohol altogether, citing increased social pressure and struggles with addiction.
Rihanna revealed this week that she hasn’t drunk in a year. ‘New year, new me,’ he wrote in instagram.
Spider-Man star Tom Holland founded his own non-alcoholic beer company, Bero, after realizing during the month of dry January that it might have “a little bit of alcohol in it.”
And last year, Formula 1 phenom Lewis Hamilton revealed he had also quit drinking and created the first alcohol-free tequila brand.
Medical experts told DailyMail.com that more openness from celebrities about sobriety could reflect a change in attitudes towards alcohol amid growing evidence about the long-term harms of alcohol consumption, such as liver disease, heart attacks and dementia.
They also suggested that the rise in celebrities opening up about sobriety could be related to the rise of soft drinks, which are now a billion-dollar industry.
Rihanna revealed on Instagram this week that she did not have a single alcoholic drink in 2024. She is pictured during New Year’s Eve.
Pictured on the left is Rihanna in 2023 before becoming teetotal and on the right in late 2024 after a year of sobriety.
Data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) shows that alcohol consumption has increased overall in the US, largely due to the pandemic.
From 2018 to 2020, binge drinking increased by 20 percent and these rates remained stable through 2022.
The NIAAA estimates that eight in 10 Americans over the age of 12 have had a drink in their lifetime, and nearly two-thirds of American adults drink alcohol regularly, according to the Pew Research Center.
However, rates are starting to drop, especially in Generation Z.
TO survey 2023 Gallup found that the number of American adults under age 35 who say they ever drink dropped from 72 percent in 2001-2003 to 62 percent in 2021-2023.
Even in adults over 55, the rate of alcohol consumption has decreased from 59 percent to 49 percent in the same period.
Dr Shoshana Ungerleider, an internal medicine doctor at Crossover Health in California, told DailyMail.com: ‘Sobriety is no longer considered unusual or restrictive; On the contrary, it has become socially acceptable, even aspirational.
‘Public figures often serve as role models, and their decision to stop drinking aligns with a desire to maintain a positive public image, maximize productivity, and improve their personal lives.
“The normalization of sobriety in popular culture has also made it easier for people to talk openly about their alcohol use and consider making changes to their own habits.”
Sophia Spencer, a social psychologist in the United Kingdom, told DailyMail.com that this doesn’t mean more celebrities are suddenly getting sober.
Instead, more conversations are happening about it.
She said: “The key change is not that sobriety is more fashionable now, but that social norms have evolved.” Sobriety is no longer considered a response to excessive alcohol consumption or being socially awkward.
“It’s been normalized to the point where people make choices and celebrities go public with their sobriety without feeling like they’re going against social norms or having to explicitly justify their choices.
“This normalization means that we are not necessarily seeing an increase in the number of sober celebrities, but rather we are seeing more celebrities being open about being sober.”
While Rihanna did not reveal her reasons for quitting alcohol in 2024, several celebrities have done so after battling addiction.
Pictured on the left is Robert Downey Jr’s mug shot from 2000, shortly after being imprisoned for drug possession. Since then, he has been open about his addiction issues and his sobriety over the past two decades.
Donald Trump Jr, pictured, said in 2019 that he stopped drinking because he had a “compulsive personality.”
One of the most infamous is Robert Downey Jr, who publicly struggled with drug and alcohol addiction in the ’90s and early 2000s.
He began using drugs and alcohol as a teenager, which quickly led to him being sentenced to three years in prison in 1999 for possession of heroin and cocaine.
In 2001, he entered rehab and has been in recovery since 2003.
Now 59, the Iron Man star said in a recent documentary: “I was just playing the game of wanting to calm down or just stay charged instead of dealing with the fact that things had gone a little bit off the rails.” ‘
More recently, Donald Trump Jr wrote in his 2019 book ‘Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us’ that he decided to abstain from alcohol after realizing he has a ‘compulsive personality.’
He wrote: “Once I started, it wasn’t easy to stop, which, when you’re in college, isn’t a big deal as long as you’re doing your job.”
“With my personality, drinking alcohol was a recipe for disaster.”
His father, Donald Trump, also claims to have become teetotal following the death of his brother Fred Trump Jr in 1981 from alcoholism.
High School Musical and The Iron Claw star Zac Efron has also spoken out about staying sober after battling addiction.
Bella Hadid (left) and Zac Efron revealed they gave up alcohol due to addiction issues and realized they were “losing control” while drinking.
In 2013, he entered rehab for alcohol and cocaine addiction.
He has remained sober since 2014 and has opened up about the pressures of Hollywood influencing his substance abuse.
The actor, now 36, said The Hollywood Reporter in 2014: ‘I was drinking a lot, too much.
‘It’s never a specific thing. I mean, you’re in your twenties, single, and living a life in Hollywood, you know? Everything is thrown at you.
‘I wouldn’t take anything back; I needed to learn everything I did. But it was an interesting trip, to say the least.
Other celebrities have turned to the increasingly popular mocktails and beer to curb the habit.
Supermodel Bella Hadid revealed last year that she will get sober in 2022 by co-founding the soft drinks company Kin Euphorics.
She wrote on Instagram: ‘I’m so proud of anyone who has discovered their sobriety or anyone who has had the courage to open their mind to Dry July!’
In a recent interview with InStyle, the 27-year-old admitted that she had started to lose control of herself after a night of heavy drinking.
She said: ”I’ve had a fair amount to drink.
“I loved alcohol and it got to the point where even I started canceling nights out where I felt like I wouldn’t be able to control myself.
“There’s this endless effect of, essentially, you know, pain and stress from those few drinks that didn’t really do much good, you know?”
Tom Holland got sober in 2022 after completing Dry January. Since then he founded the non-alcoholic beer company Bero.
Zendaya, pictured with her boyfriend Holland, said after turning 21 in 2017 that she never plans to drink.
Tom Holland had a similar change when he embarked on Dry January in 2022. At that point, he was drinking so regularly that it became second nature.
he said Men’s health this week: ‘Every Friday after work was a waste: let’s get drunk and have a good time.
“I didn’t have any bad experiences, but I drank enough to ruin my next day.”
He has been sober since then and last year founded the non-alcoholic beer company Bero.
Holland said Forbes: “My first year sober was really difficult and if I had had Bero, I think it would have been easier.”
In 2023, the non-alcoholic beverage market amounted to $1.2 billion, an increase of 29 percent from the previous year.
Dr Ungerleider said: “For some celebrities, like Tom Holland, sobriety has even opened the doors to new opportunities, such as his soft drinks business, further highlighting how abstinence from alcohol can perfectly suit a modern lifestyle.
His girlfriend and fellow actor Zendaya also abstains from drinking, which Holland says helped him stay sober.
When she turned 21 in 2017, the Euphoria star wrote on it website: ‘Just because I’m now of legal drinking age doesn’t mean I’m going to start throwing them back.
‘I don’t plan to start drinking. My life is too stressful to need help relaxing with a cocktail. This industry is too crazy to not be in control of myself and my decisions, so I don’t want to introduce drinking!
‘Besides, I don’t want drinking to become a vice. Why try something if you don’t need it?