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| A healthy and happy Claudia Christian |
Tell-All Candidly Chronicles Her
Battles With Addiction
by Joachim Jocson
BeansTalk Contributor
Celebrities, with their seemingly endless supply of adulation and alcohol, are no strangers to addictions; sadly, it's the frequent subject of entertainment magazine covers. In a universe where relapse is more common than sober success, popular "Babylon Five" actress Claudia Christian can count herself in the latter category.
Christian's battle with alcohol addiction is the subject of her memoir Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex and Addiction.
Christian, currently on a book tour, tells BeansTalk it was a conversation with Dr. Roy Eskapa (The Cure for Alcoholism), that sparked her interest in penning her book. Eskapa suggested she chronicle her experience with alcohol addiction and the Sinclair Method treatment. Sinclair, she says, provides an effective solution to excessive drinking.
The actress candidly discusses her pre-sober life and her days of rehab and recovery, for which she credits the Sinclair Method.
It’s been four years since she applied the Sinclair Method to her recovery, Christian tells BeansTalk. Like many who suffer from addictions, finding a successful path was a rocky road. Initially, she went to a rehab facility in northern California and dabbled in psychotherapy for a couple of years.
She combined therapy with hypnosis, vitamin therapy, and the best known program, AA (Alcoholics Anonymous).
“I would go from one to 11 months and never hit the year mark, then I would fall off the wagon,” says Christian. For five to six years, she struggled with attempts to quell her addiction. She fretted about seizures, visited a detox center. Finally, in 2009, she discovered the Sinclair Method and for four years Christian has been clean.
The book has been a cathartic experience for her, but it hasn't been without its challenges: “I think the most difficult part for me was to come clean about my problem of alcoholism, because it is embarrassing. When you go through it, you are in denial. So to 'fess up, that was really the hardest part to write.”
Unlike many addicts who fight with their inner demons daily, fighting the urge to drink, Christian says she hasn’t thought about drinking or had one, that specter of alcohol addictions no longer lingers like a cloud above her.
With her book, Christian says she'll not only remain sober, but she's committed to to help others affected by alcohol addiction. She stays true to her word: her book's website (http://www.babylonconfidential.com/) offers readers an opportunity to leave a message and she promises to respond with advice on methods and treatments.
“I would tell them if they are drinking too much, or if their drinking is controlling/affecting their life in a negative way, to give the Sinclair Method a chance,” she encourages. Christian recommends Dr. Eskapa’s book for insight as to the science of alcoholism.
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| Christian as Commander Susan Ivanova of "Babylon 5" |
Next month Christian and former "Babylon 5" castmates reunite for the 20th anniversary of the series' pilot. She continues to write, and is at work on a science-fiction military novel, Wolf's Empire, which already has a publisher. For more info, (http://claudiachristian.net).
Christian's candid memoir will be of interest, not only to the legion of "Babylon 5" fans, but to anyone interested in the proverbial road to recovery.
Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex and Addiction is now available. In addition to her addiction, Christian dishes on celebrity relationships, including those with Rob Lowe, George Clooney and Dodi Fayed (who died alongside Princess Diana). She also discusses a very awkward date with the acclaimed, then-married "Babylon 5" creator and writer J. Michael Straczynski, spurning William Shatner's advances, her departure from "Babylon 5," and sci-fi legend Harlan Ellison's subsequent diss. Christian also has had her share of obsessive fans, and she recounts (with great humor) the time when a fan, dressed as a giant Tribble (think and remember "Star Trek"), shot her (luckily the bullet was a blank). For more, get the book!
