Amanda Seyfried Depends on “Liquid Courage” Normal? or a Sign of Alcoholism?

January 29th, 2013 | Add a Comment

picture from Hollywire

Actress Amanda Seyfried, who has starred in many hit films—including Mean Girls, Mamma Mia!, and the new stage musical-turned-movie, Les Miserables—is just like everyone else. She deals with the same sort of problems that lots of “ordinary” people struggle with. While speaking with David Letterman in an interview on The Late Show, she revealed that she battles a dreadful case of stage fright and takes somewhat of a “liquid courage” approach to dealing with it.

A couple glasses of the hard stuff are needed for her to relax and loosen up before chatting it up with the talk show greats such as Letterman or Leno. She expressed to Letterman that she never does a show “after noon without some sort of liquid courage.” At one point she confessed, “I’m pretty drunk,” before partaking in a glass of whiskey with The Late Show host, which is her drink of choice.

“I’ve never been fully sober when I’ve gone on shows,” she confessed while interviewed for InStyle Magazine.

Does Seyfried have a case of stage fright or the early stages of alcoholism? It’s an understandable mindset, the whole “liquid courage” concept, but sometimes people—possibly including Miss Seyfried—take it to the next level.

Seyfried, along with her borderline alcoholic tendencies, struggles with anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which she also divulged to InStyle.

“I have to do lots of things at the same time. It’s an obsessive-compulsive thing,” she says. “So when I’m on the elliptical machine, which I do almost every day, I have to be knitting, playing Sudoku, and listening to something… I’m too measured and controlling—about everything. That’s why I take Lexapro. It’s for OCD.”

Seyfried, though an exceptional actress and already a rising star, is not exempt from everyday problems like mental illness, which affects over 45 million Americans. She feels that it makes her stronger as an individual.

“I don’t feel like I’m struggling with it. I think OCD is a part of me that protects me,” she says. “It’s also the part of me that I use in my job, in a positive way. The only thing I’d like to get beyond is my fear of driving over bridges and through tunnels. I can’t overcome it.”

But Seyfried can overcome her stage fright with something other than “liquid courage” to get her through a show. Liquid courage eventually becomes “liquid life,” and can do so with lightning speed. In combination with her mental illnesses, alcohol abuse would make things a whole lot worse for her.

Work Cited