Home and Away star Emily Weir, who plays Mackenzie Booth on the Aussie soap, has bravely opened up about her battle with alcohol recalling the time she “hit rock bottom”
Australian actress Emily Weir originally gained notoriety as Mackenzie Booth on the popular soap opera Home and Away, and she has since established herself as a fan favourite.
In 2019, the persona initially arrived in Summer Bay as Dean Thompson’s (Paddy O’Connor) elder sister.
And Emily, 32, has played the brunette beauty for more than four years, and since her debut, she has been a part of numerous significant storylines.
And while her on-screen persona has dealt with a few dramas in real life, Emily has also experienced them.
Emily shocked her followers three years ago when she boldly admitted she had battled alcoholism in the past and now leads a sober existence.
Additionally, Mackenzie was devastated to learn that her ex-partner Gabe Miller had tragically passed away from cancer in recent episodes of the soap opera.
Therefore, Daily Star is examining Mac’s alcoholism as she copes with even more loss in upcoming episodes.
‘Reliant’ on alcohol in her 20s
According to Emily, she developed a “reliant” relationship with alcohol during her 20s and eventually sought out counselling and support from AA to stop drinking.
In 2020, she admitted to self-medicating with red wine to Who Magazine, saying, “I managed to disguise it all extremely well.
“Like most people in their early 20s, I chose to overlook the problem because I wanted to travel and party with my pals.
“At that point, I started drinking more since it helped me deal with my anxiousness and all of my anxieties vanished. But I started to depend on alcohol.”
Later, Emily said that she had spoken up in the goal of educating others about how widespread the problem is and how it “affects anyone.”
Terrifying ‘epiphany’
Emily reported having a “epiphany” in 2020 that made her give up her alcohol addiction.
The actress admitted in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that she had a “mega-hangover epiphany” and understood she wasn’t living her best life.
“The epiphany was basically a dream of me as an older woman, with full grey hair in plaits, a true (red wine) blood mouth, covered in cat hair, and alone.”
The idea crossed my mind that, if I carried on like I was, that might become my life. For me, alcohol was my poison.
Hitting rock bottom
Over time, Emily found the continuous gatherings and libations to be much less enjoyable.
“When everything were on the line, I almost gave up hope. I had too much pride, so it was hard for me to seek for help,” she recently told TV Week.
So, when it seemed like there was no turning back, I heard a voice inside telling me that I had to make a change. Help is needed. Reaching my lowest point was the turning point for me.
She also admitted that she used alcohol as a coping strategy at the time because of the pain of her parents’ divorce.
The Australian actor, however, was able to resign before appearing on Home and Away in 2019.
Soap bosses ‘not aware’
On the show, Emily’s soap opera character Mac struggled with alcohol use, and the actress claims that Home And Away’s producers were unaware of her real issues.
It was simply one of those topics that was never discussed, she claimed.
“It’s not like I tried to conceal it. Simply said, it wasn’t a topic of conversation.
“Therefore, it was intriguing when a story about my becoming clean, about how booze and I weren’t friends, and about how I attend AA, came out.
Are you going to be OK? asked the producers. We have the ability to alter the plot. I said, “Definitely not.” This is one of the stories I can tell well.
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