The Truth About Addiction & Recovery: Juliet Warner On Relapse, Sobriety & Finding The Strength To Start Again

Lauryn Bosstick (0:00)

This episode contains a candid conversation about addiction, alcohol and drug use that may be sensitive for some listeners.

Welcome back to The Bossticks. Happy Monday. Today, we are sitting down with Juliet Warner. I immediately fell in love with her candor. There's something so refreshing, and you guys are going to experience this about how she told her story about addiction, alcohol, drugs, her four children, recovery, and ultimately rebuilding her life. It's really refreshing how honest she is. I've talked about this a little bit, been pretty open that I have been affected by drug and alcohol addiction in my family, and it's been a huge part of my story. Juliet's going to take you on quite the wild ride. I hope you love this episode. With that, let's welcome Juliet to The Bossticks.

Juliet is here on the show. She has an incredible story. I was telling you off air that I found you from Caroline Stamberry, her podcast, and I was watching some clips, and I was blown away at how resilient, honest that you were. It was refreshing. It felt like a breath of fresh air. So I messaged you to come on the show, and then we met on accident in St. Barts.

Juliet Warner (1:17)

I know that was funny.

Lauryn Bosstick (1:18)

You looked so beautiful and glowy with your four children that you've had in four years, which we'll get into. But first, let's get the lay of the land on you. Why don't you take us back to when you were a teenager? Let's go way back.

Juliet Warner (1:31)

Sure. Yeah.

First of all, thank you guys so much for having me. I've been waiting for this for a long time. That was hilarious when I ran into you guys. I was like, I'm so not the type of person that's going to go insert myself in a beautiful dinner at Eden Rock to say hi. But I was like, but I am coming on your podcast, so I figured I should say hi.

Lauryn Bosstick (1:52)

We love you.

Michael Bosstick (1:53)

I'm glad you did, because it would have been weird if we saw each other and we knew we were doing this and we didn't say hello. I always think about that.

Juliet Warner (1:59)

Yeah, I was like, should I, shouldn't I? All right, I'm gonna go. Yeah.

So yeah, I'm just gonna start at childhood real quick because I wanna be clear that this is not a trauma origin addiction story. If you looked at my childhood from the outside, I had everything any kid would want. I had two parents that were amazing. I have two younger sisters. Neither one of them went down the road that I went down. And from the outside looking in, everything looked great.

The trouble didn't really start until I got to high school. So when I got to high school, it was pretty much right from the very beginning. I can remember going to a party like the first weekend in high school, enter drugs and alcohol. I'm not the type of girl that ever had an off switch. So even from those early days, I was the first one to start, I was the last one to finish, and I never had a conversation with myself like, maybe I shouldn't do this much tonight, or maybe I should do a little bit less, or maybe tonight I shouldn't drink at all. Those conversations are so foreign to me. I never had any of them, not one time in my life.

Michael Bosstick (3:09)

I think that's common for a lot of people that struggle with addiction, right? It's like there's something in most addicts where they just don't have that regulator, right? It almost makes, from what we've had these discussions, and obviously, I was talking to the team, I said, in some way, shape, or form, unfortunately these days, everyone's life is touched by addiction, whether it's a friend or a family member or personal. So we've had people on the show, but one of the common threads that most people that struggle with addiction, that they say, that come on this show, is that they don't have that regulation.

It just makes them feel comfortable and go like if you're at home.

Juliet Warner (3:48)

Right. That's what makes me think that it's something so much bigger than partying or just wanting to feel better. It's almost like you're trying to fill a hole inside of you. For me, I feel like that hole was there from day one. Even though I had this nice, beautiful childhood, I can remember feeling super lonely. I think it's because, and of course, I didn't have the language for this when I was younger, but I think it's truly because I'm a spiritual being having a human experience, and I was trying to quench a spiritual thirst with drugs and alcohol. It was the first thing that ever worked for me, because I can remember being like, this is what's been missing. I get it.