Celebrity chef reveals the moment he knew he had a drinking problem as recovering alcoholic says one sign shows it’s no longer casual

Warning: This article contains discussion of alcoholism which some readers may find distressing.

A chef has opened up about his recovery after sharing what he claims is a big red flag that your drinking is no longer a 'casual' event.

As more and more people choose to step away from alcohol, stories about the realities of addiction have been coming up a lot more often.

Previously, drinking culture dictated that you must drink until you drop, and if you do this every week, three times a week, or daily, it’s not a big deal as long as you can function in every other area of your life.

But that’s just not true.

While there’s no harm in having a few drinks with friends, sometimes, drinking can slowly stop being so casual, and the drinker can be totally oblivious until a certain point,

Whether the drinking turns addictive due to a mental health problem, stress, or making it your personality, alcoholism can be deadly, and also ruin your life and harm others.

There are a lot of signs that someone's drinking is getting to a dangerous point, and for celebrity chef, Andy Hearnden, aka Andy Cooks, said alcoholism is a big issue in the cooking industry.

Andy Hearnden was an alcoholic for 15 years (YouTube/MarkBourisYT)

He told Mark Bouris earlier this year in a YouTube video of his Straight Talk podcast that the industry is stressful, and it makes you want to go out and blow off steam.

He said: “There's a reason that drug and alcohol abuse has [risen in] our industry and it's because of those levels of, you know, stress, anxiety, and you come off a massive high, whether it's a good high or a bad high, and your adrenaline's pumping and you need something to calm you down.”

He went on to reveal his own sobriety journey, which occurred after 15 years of alcoholism and drug abuse.

Andy revealed that it began at 16 when he would drink with friends and then developed to drinking three bottles of wine a night, at work, and at any opportunity he could.

Eventually he realized he had a problem when he became a ‘d***’ to his partner.

Andy told Mark: “That’s what was that catalyst to me to go, okay, now it's time to sort this out.”

He then went to rehab to wean himself off the high level of alcohol in a safe way, and has come out on the other side of it all.

While for Andy his red flag was how he was treating his partner, for ex-alcoholic Corey Warren, his number one red flag is blacking out.

Corey posted his thoughts on TikTok, where he said it’s no longer casual drinking if you can’t remember things.

"If you’ve ever blacked out, you probably think it’s because you drank too much," he said in the video on social media.

"I used to think that blacking out was just a part of drinking, part of having fun, a part of the story I’d tell the next day.

“What I didn’t realise is that blacking out is not what happens when I drink too much one time. Blacking out is what happens when my tolerance is so high that I drink past my body’s limit and I don’t even realise it."

He added: "And that’s not normal, that’s not fun. That’s my brain shutting down."

If you've been affected by addiction and want to speak to someone in confidence, you can call American Addiction Centers on (888) 324-0595, available 24/7, or contact them through their website.

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