CB and I talk a lot about drinking and how we both gave up drinking at various points. I didn’t have one moment of clarity about drinking, I was just in my early 30s and tired of being hungover and tired of the weight I was carrying from booze calories. So I stopped drinking and joined a gym and… well, I sleep better and the sleep is better-quality. I’m not really down with the whole “Wine Mom” culture which is so prevalent these days, especially since it feels like normalizing alcoholism in middle-aged women. Maybe I’m taking it too seriously. In any case, Kelly Ripa announced that she stopped drinking in 2017 and she’s not down with the Wine Mom culture either.
Kelly Ripa has made a major lifestyle change. While discussing America’s “wine problem” on Monday’s Live With Kelly and Ryan, the 49-year-old revealed that she had cut alcohol out of her diet. “They are saying Americans bought less wine in the last year,” she told co-host Ryan Seacrest. “It’s the first drop in a quarter of a century. Now, I believe this is because I quit drinking, that I caused this slip. I have influenced the market…. I’m not saying I’ve driven people out,” she added. “I’m saying I stopped buying wine and there’s a 25 percent dip.”
And Seacrest is taking credit for it, noting the change came around the time he joined the talk show in 2017 following Michael Strahan’s dramatic exit. “I started the show and she quit drinking,” he said. “What does that tell you? I don’t know…It that good or bad?”
Very good, actually. As Ripa raved, “It’s amazing.”
The timeline of this is interesting – in 2016, Kelly had all of the massive drama with Michael Strahan and the show’s producers, remember that? And then a few months later, she stops drinking. Coincidence or no? Still, I bet Ripa stopped drinking more for her health, or for my reasons – tired of feeling like crap, tired of not getting good sleep, tired of the empty calories. Also, I just don’t like most wines. Nearly every red gives me a headache, but I could handle a good-quality white.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I gave up drinking about two months ago. It was for many of the same reasons you listed, I do feel women are pressured to drink by commercial culture. I still don’t sleep great, but I don’t miss the hangovers and it took 10 years off my face so that’s a plus!
Same. I didn’t give it up necessarily I just Don’t have casual drinks anymore, as in, I’ll have it at a restaurant, or at home on a Friday, but far less than ever before. What I hate is how marijuana (which does have actual medicinal benefits) is vilified, but booze is cool.
I can’t handle red wine either.. it makes me wanna sleep. Just a few sips and I’m out. So I wouldn’t ever miss that. However I am like and old grandpa and love a little glass of whiskey every now and then, especially in the winter so I’m still not giving it up.
Jessica Simpson gave up drinking, too.
Mommy wine culture is a big ploy by the alcohol industry. Its a vicious cycle, wine ultimately makes you tired which makes you think you need more wine to keep up.
I quit drinking in 2018 and my life has improved a great deal. I recommend everyone give it a shot.
It’s really quite awful. “It’s wine o’clock” and all that stupidity on social media.
I’m doing a dry January and I can’t believe how good my skin looks! One fine line near my that kept getting deeper is barely noticeable now!
I live in Canada’s wine capital. Or thats the slogan. And I am sickened by wine culture. Because all around me Im watching farms and orchards being turned into vineyards. There’s more money in growing grapes than food.
I like that a lot of celebrities are talking about not drinking alcohol anymore. Kelly, Jessica, Anne Hathaway, I think there were more in the past year too?
I have about 0-2 drinks per month at this point in my life- I’m 35 with 2 young kids. The alcohol culture in this country has really started to bug me in past few years. I have a beer once in a while because I enjoy a good IPA. I’ll have the occasional gin and tonic at a party. Never more than 2 drinks and even 2 is very rare. Once I stopped drinking regularly I became really sensitive to how crappy it makes you feel.
I stopped drinking with any regularity after college. Then I had a series of pregnancies and basically never drank again! I have no alcoholism issues- it just doesn’t appeal to me. I feel bloated and sluggish, and I get horrible hangovers and always have. Plus my mom died very young of breast cancer and with the the associated increased risk with alcohol use- that was the nail in the coffin for me (she never drank- I just don’t need to be doing things to increase my risk). I haven’t drank in at least 10 years and I’m fine with it/don’t miss it.
I’m annoyed by the negativity people who do drink get. My husband is a som. We drink wine. I’m a mom. It doesn’t make me less of a parent than you if I have two or three glasses of wine a month while also being a parent 🙄 And my face and body are fine. I’m 38 and still get carded. I have very little stress in life, and I sleep GREAT! Cheers!
I don’t think this is about the people who have a few glasses of wine per month. Most of the negativity is regarding mom’s who are drinking a bottle of wine a night just to get through the week. “Mommy juice”
@lua
Nobody is saying that falls under mommy juice/wine o clock/suburban mom alcoholism. That’s what we are talking about. Esp if you have a sommelier husband! anyway just wanted to know that situation definitely isn’t toxic/bad or falls under the alcoholism normalizing to ‘take the edge off’ or a requirement to feel better (once again def not your description). That’s cool your husband is a sommelier!
A couple of drinks a month is not a problem. Sounds like you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder for some reason. The problem is the person who must have a drink every single day, and can’t have just one. Or binges on the weekends and drinks more in a couple of days than they should have in one month. The big test is trying to go without and seeing if you can. If you can’t, you probably have a problem. The Alcohol Experiment is being dry for 30 days, and seeing how your body feels. Are you sleeping better, eating better, are your relationships improving. Alcohol in any form is poison and your body cannot metabolize it. Plus your kids see you having a drink or drinks to “relax”. Anyone who has the guts to make this monumental choice for a better life gets my vote.
I’m assuming this has more to do with alcoholism? I got buddies that haven’t had a drop in years and we all can still go out have a great time. I love to drink. I love wine. If I go home and have a few drinks so sue me. I’m poppin a bottle of wine on a Fri/Sat night with my partner and we’re hitting up a local music venue, restaurant/bar having a great time. You do you!
If you are happy with your choices then there is nothing to be defensive about.
If you find yourself constantly defending, then there is something that needs a closer look.
I wish you the best.
I greatly dislike the “mommy needs wine to function” thing. I really like a good dry red wine but I just don’t drink a lot. Maybe once every 6 months. It just doesn’t occur to me most of the time. And I would always choose food calories over drink calories. Chocolate first before wine for me! I don’t think there is anything wrong with enjoying an occasional drink but the “wine mom” trope of NEEDING it at the end of the day to wind down smacks of alcoholism to me. But then I am a little sensitive to it because I once (unknowingly at first) dated a very much active alcoholic and it was a very toxic relationship.