TV star Graham Norton has revealed he was taken to Alcoholics Anonymous by Star Wars’ Carrie Fisher.
The Cork-born chat show host said he knows he has an issue with booze – which recently saw him drunkenly sleep against a lamp post.
But Graham, 51, insists that alcohol doesn’t fully control his life – unlike others he met at AA.
He said: “I have actually been to a few meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous thanks to my friend Carrie Fisher, she of Princess Leia fame.
Help: Carrie took Graham to AA
“Her problems with addiction are well documented and she persuaded me to accompany her to an AA session in Los Angeles.
“Initially, I was reluctant because I feared I would realise I was the same as these people who told nostalgic stories about their crazy nights and how low they had been dragged by alcohol.
“I realised at those AA meetings that, although we did share some of the same stories, I had reached a very different ending from the others.
“I prefer my life with booze in it, but the members I met didn’t have that choice to make. They couldn’t live their lives if drink remained in them.
Booze issues: But Graham insists he isn’t an alcoholic | VIPIRELAND.COM
“If I had to choose between booze and work, I would pick work without hesitation, but what is the point of life if you can’t sometimes release the inner moron?”
And Graham – writing in his autobiography – said he isn’t afraid to end up sleeping in the dog bed after getting back home steaming.
He added: “If I make it home, it is quite a regular occurrence for me to end up on the kitchen floor or even in the dog bed. My rationale for this is that my bedroom is three floors up and because Bailey the labradoodle is very large, so is his bed.
“Far worse are the nights when I don’t reach home before sleep overtakes me. Recently, I was at a friend’s birthday drinks in East London and left early because I had to be up first thing.
“About 40 minutes later my friends came out of the bar to find me fast asleep, leaning against a lamp-post. Not a good look.”
