TV presenter Osher Günsberg marks his ten year sobriety anniversary

Osher Günsberg has opened up about his battle with alcoholism on the tenth anniversary of his sobriety.

Speaking on his podcast Better Than Yesterday on Saturday, the 45-year-old opened up about how he struggled to limit his alcohol consumption before deciding to remain sober.

The television presenter reminisced on his struggles while sharing a photo he took of himself on the day he decided to quit drinking.

‘Ten years ago, I took this photo. It was the first day I woke up and said “That’s it. I can never drink like that again” and meant it,’ Osher explained.  

‘I’d been trying to stop drinking over the past weeks, months and years but it would never stick. Every time I promised myself I wouldn’t get plastered, I failed.

‘I started by opening the first beer, but no matter what I tried, no matter how many different ways I tried to behave, it was inevitable that by the time the night was over, something would be broken, someone would be angry and I wouldn’t remember a thing that happened.’

Osher explained his final night of drinking felt ‘no smaller or bigger’ than the preceding evenings over the years.

‘It was just another night of me being a boorish, belligerent drunk, vomiting on myself, frightening those I’m with, being inappropriate to strangers and humiliating people who care about me,’ he said.

‘I was trapped in a pattern of behaviour that was on an ever decreasing spiral and at ever increasing velocity. The difference was that I just couldn’t do it one more time.’

‘So I called a friend who I knew was sober and asked him for help. I made the choice to not drink that day and it’s the same choice I’ve made ever since.’

He saw the friend as an ‘incredible mentor’, adding: ‘[He] guided me through my journey of recovery, helping me dig deep and search for the reasons why I drank the way I did.’ 

‘I’m a work in progress, not perfection,’ Osher said. 

‘That work has given me a loving family, an incredible wife, a career, and happiness beyond anything I could have imagined back when I was drinking.’

Osher described his wife Audrey Griffen as his ‘reward’ for the work he put in to remain sober.  

‘She’s the reason that I do the work every day. When I was drinking, my life just kept shrinking. In recovery, it’s just keeps expanding. Ten years sober seems like a lot. It isn’t. It really is just a day at a time,’ he said.