FORGIVE NEVER FORGET –
Aug. 17, 2025 – The middle-class mother had a loving husband, two adorable children and a charming home.
She worked as a writer and producer for TV networks, including HGTV and National Geographic, and was known as the life of every party.
‘Fun Mary’ was her nickname but it was a disguise that hid a secret a debilitating 30-year battle with alcohol abuse.
It was an addiction that threatened to unravel her idyllic suburban life.
From Bacardi and Cokes in high school to cheap college kegs and wine-soaked dinner parties, Stephens described alcohol as her ‘best friend’.
It helped her cope with social anxiety, and she called it a ‘powerful’ crutch in her new memoir, Uncorked: A Memoir of Letting Go and Starting Over.
The one day, at a friend’s pool party, Stephens was drinking her favorite Chardonnay on a raft in the pool when her five-year-old son Jake, who could not swim yet, was paddling nearby on a swimming noodle.
