This time, the celebrity sharing his story of addiction and recovery (to People magazine, natch) is the lead singer of the mega-popular rock band, Green Day:

Billie Joe Armstrong on Managing Addiction, Mental Health: ‘There’s No Shame’

The story itself is familiar enough – gifted musician, plagued by anxiety, finds solace in alcohol and drugs.  Enjoys both immensely at first, less so as the seasons pass. Eventually the day comes when the fun is all gone and something must change. Many abortive attempts at sobriety later, he succeeds.

His  version  of recovery: “I don’t drink…I ended up being around a bunch of really good friends that don’t drink. There’s a lot more sober people — I’ve noticed that… and it was just something that I was unaware of, because I was s—-faced or something.”

The fact is, about a third of US adults don’t drink at all, or they drink so occasionally as to qualify as nondrinkers. I’ve noticed how difficult it can be for some of the patients in addiction treatment to believe that. “Well, what do they do for fun?” somebody always wants to know. As if nondrinkers were a different subspecies of human, to be studied by anthropologists.

in reality, those who choose to abstain do so for a variety of reasons. Religion for some. Health issues for others.  There are people who simply don’t like the way alcohol makes them feel.

A big chunk of the population , of course, abstains because they are now in recovery from years or decades of alcoholism.

And at the other end of the spectrum, we have the ten or so percent of drinkers who consume, on average, more than 7 alcoholic drinks a day. Heavy drinkers,  scientists like to call them.

The liquor industry depends on their business, and prizes their continuing loyalty.

Like so many before him, Billie Joe seems amazed at the dramatic difference that giving up alcohol has made in his life.

“For me, alcohol gets in the way of everything, from my relationship with my family to just trying to get a good night’s sleep. So that’s why, really, I wanted to quit…  I was done. So with the friends that I have, I’m still able to go out and go listen to some music, see some band or go to a party — and it’s still a fun, sexy kind of evening, even though there’s no alcohol.

“And then the next day, I wake up … I’m just tired. Now there’s no shame and hangover and all that s—. I feel really good.”

Hard to argue with that. And who would want to?