STICK WITH THE WINNERS! –
July 29, 2025 – Courtney Friel is a news anchor and reporter at KTLA. She has 15 years sober and is the author of the book “Tonight at 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News”. She is a mom to a 14-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. Her husband is also sober—they met in AA!
Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?
A. Alcohol, Cocaine, Adderall, Xanax and Ambien! 09/09/09.
Q. Is there anything special in your sobriety toolkit that helps keep you sober?
A. Meditation, journaling, 12-step meetings and working out!
Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice, or a wicked twist of fate?
A. I used to not like to call addiction a disease but then I realized it just means the synapses in addicts’ brains are just programmed differently than ‘normies,’ and that is the disease. That being said, after people get some time, especially if they have worked a program, I do believe they make the choice to relapse.
