E1343 - I'm Betty Ford, And I'm An Alcoholic

Former First Lady Betty Ford quietly marked what she would later call her “sobriety birthday” on 7 April 1978: a deeply personal victory following years of dependence on prescription medication and alcohol. 

Though the milestone itself was private, it came just days after a profoundly difficult family intervention at her home in Rancho Mirage, where her husband, former President Gerald Ford, and their children confronted her with the toll her addiction had taken. Initially shocked and defensive, she ultimately recognised the truth in what they said, and within a week resolved to give up the substances that had come to do...