Thirty years on, I’m trying to stay sober one day at a time
Bestselling novelist Keyes on booze battle & her new book
SHE may call herself an “ordinary alcoholic” but there is nothing ordinary about Marian Keyes, whose tales of relationships, family and the ups and downs of life has earned her millions of fans.
In January, the bestselling novelist celebrated 30 years of sobriety, feeling “pride, pleasure and delight”, posting a heartfelt Instagram message to those who are struggling with booze.
Today, she openly admits she still goes to support meetings regularly.
She said: “I’m just an ordinary alcoholic, trying my best to stay sober one day at a time.
“It doesn’t go away. It’s not like, you have cancer and then you get cured and you’re grand. But [meetings] work for me.”
There are other landmark anniversaries and events, a portrait of her was recently unveiled at the National Gallery of Ireland, she’s about to celebrate 30 years as a published author and last year she turned 60, although she doesn’t feel her age.
She added: “I felt fine at the time because I’ve never minded about getting older. I’ve always felt that as I’ve got older, life has got easier in terms of what people expect from women. Becoming invisible has definitely got a lot going for it.
“I’ve felt weird in that I feel much younger than 60 and in a way that my life is still waiting to start. I realise that people don’t grow out of this.
“I think one day I’ll feel like I’ve arrived. Sixty was the age that women were put out to grass, 60 sounds older than it actually is. It’s not what it was 30 years ago.
“You know, it’s youthful now. Between HRT and the fish oils, I feel younger than 60.”
Next year she will celebrate 30 years since her debut novel Watermelon was published. Her array of bestselling books since then includes Rachel’s Holiday, Grown Ups and This Charming Man.
Keyes has gone through huge peaks and troughs since Watermelon was published, including periods of clinical depression when she was unable to sleep, read, write or talk, and tried many therapies, both conventional and alternative.
She’s also gone through the menopause which she describes as “awful”.
She said: “I was 45 when the perimenopause started. The anxiety was horrific, like, what was going on? It was really scary and it was the emotional stuff rather than the physical stuff that I found difficult, the mood swings, the fear, the anxiety, the rage. I felt way too young.
“I got HRT, but it took a while to get it right. I was lucky that the woman I went
Falling in love is not a game, it’s about real life, thinking, ‘Can I live with this person?’ MARIAN KEYES ON NEW BOOK MY FAVOURITE MISTAKE
to wasn’t one of these menopause deniers.
“But I’ve encountered it since, the doctors who are reluctant to prescribe it, telling me, ‘There’s no need for it, women have done this for centuries’. Yeah, and for centuries there weren’t antibiotics either, people died from the flu.”
Her latest book, My Favourite Mistake, sees forty-something Anna Walsh – one of the sisters in the Walsh family, as featured in some of her previous novels – throwing away her dream life and high-flying career as a beauty PR executive in New York and ditching her partner to return to friends and family in Ireland.
Her sister, recovering alcoholic Rachel – as featured in Rachel’s Holiday and Again, Rachel – plays a supporting role in this tale. Marian said: “Falling in love is not a game, it’s about real life, thinking, ‘Can I live with this person? Do I care about them, do I want to mind them, do I trust them, are they kind to me?’”
My Favourite Mistake is published by Penguin Michael Joseph tomorrow, priced €16.99 at Eason.