I looked like any other Xmas party goer but I was battling an £80k booze addiction that left me with broken bones
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FULL of bruises and battered after a disaster of a Christmas party, Samantha Parker realised her life had to change. It was just the first hour of the event that Samantha could remember before it descended into a booze-fuelled carnage - one that included a fall which left her with ugly injuries.
![[The mum estimates she's spent over an eye-watering $100,000 (£80,000) during her 22 years of heavy drinking]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/f540116a-7f71-4c89-acdb-285ef431ecc2.jpg?strip=all&w=845)
"At some point, I landed on my head and cracked my skull. I spent the holidays with a massive hematoma on my face, lying to my family about why I looked like I got beat up,” she said. She recalled thinking “Maybe I should stop drinking”. However, it would take Samantha, who works as a social media manager, another decade to go fully sober earlier this year.
![[Samantha went fully sober this year. after over two decades of binge drinking]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/0bb6c87a-d5b4-4cd1-844a-5dcca420029d.jpg?strip=all&w=713)
The 39-year-old now bravely shares her raw journey to sobriety on TikTok, where she inspires and offers hope to those struggling with binge-drinking during what can be the most tempting season of the year - Christmas. She reckons she's spent over an eye-watering $100,000 (£80,000) during her 22 years of heavy drinking.
![[The 39-year-old, from Utah, now shares her sobriety journey on TikTok]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/NINTCHDBPICT000957894633.jpg?strip=all&w=842)
But the financial toll, however big, pales in comparison to the emotional cost. "One drink leads to many, and the next thing you know, you're lying to your loved ones and unravelling your life," she said. "I turned into a different person when I drank—saying and doing things sober me would never even think of. After two decades of this, I had to ask myself: how much further was I willing to go?".
