The Booze

Ð'« About fearThe truth about binge drinking - TV

I was asked to take part in an ITV documentary being filmed called �The truth about binge drinking’, by the same people who made �The truth about size zero’ with Louise Redknap earlier in the year. Michelle Heaton from Liberty X was presenting the programme and had to undertake a commitment to binge drinking for 1 month. Michelle has a reputation well documented in the tabloids for enjoying a drink or two and falling out of clubs at 2am, she confesses to being a former binge drinker who still enjoys a drink or two but has calmed down considerably since meeting her husband (Andy Scott-Lee). Michelle was charming and professional and very willing to talk about her experiences, she was already half way through the experiment when I met her and beginning to feel the pain, although she loved going out and enjoying herself she was finding it heavy going and suffering from hangovers. Michelle is typical of any attractive 27 year old, she had a job she loved (singer, performer, presenter) she enjoyed a drink but in no way saw it as being a problem, she saw it as being normal and something that most people her age did.

The focus of the programme was to see if Michelle changed her views about binge drinking by the end, Michelle was drinking 7 or 8 times over what is considered low-risk alcohol use in one session (80-90 units), over a week her alcohol consumption was massive. Michelle said this is more than what she drinks normally but is reflective of what she was drinking when she first joined Liberty X. Michelle’s’ drinking as dangerous and risky as it is typical of a lot of young professionals and the only reason that they aren’t worrying about it is that �everyone’s doing it, we’ve normalized abnormal drinking.

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