SNAPPLE ADDICT –
April 8, 2026 – “I tried cocaine in 1980, the night I graduated, and I just knew. I knew I was an addict, knew I was going to love it. And that started a 10-year run with cocaine where I got myself in a lot of trouble with it.”
As the 1990s came around, Kaufman’s family had an intervention with her that “ended up saving my life.”
“I needed it. I was so grateful to have it. I ended up going to a hospital, and when I was done with my 28 days, which became 45 days, which became 10 months, I spent that time getting myself together. They told me that if I didn’t get the help, I was going to die. There really was no choice for me.”
Part of getting sober meant losing the safety net that her job at the family business had provided.
“I had to learn how to live life on life’s terms and not be spoiled, to start again,” she shared.
“There I was, about 30, and one of the owners of Snapple was my best friend’s father. He loved me and he knew that I was hilarious. He said, ‘I’m going to talk to my partners and I’m going to tell them that I want to make an exception with you and I want you to come to Snapple,’” Kaufman recalls.
“And I said, ‘But I don’t want to go to Snapple.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t want to be in the beverage business. It sounds like the most boring, horrible business,’ “ she laughed.
