Just the other day, Wendy Williams came out on her show and confessed to the nation that she was currently in recovery and living in a sober house with a sober companion following her around 24/7.
Wendy Williams reveals she's been staying in a sober home, battling addiction
Now, while I applaud her trying to get her life together and get help, I definitely don't like the way she is going about it. One of the 12 traditions of AA says that members "must always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.".
The last 8 years I was in the Navy, I was a Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor, and because of that billet and training, I learned quite a bit about AA and how it operates. I asked one of the members once why that was. He then gave me a couple of books to read, "AA Comes of Age", and "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions", the first was a history of AA, and the second explained the steps and traditions, as well as the reason for each.
Well, it seems that in the early days of AA, there were some famous people who were getting sober, and they wanted to advertise how much AA had done for them. Dr. Bob and Bill W. thought about it, and decided against it. Why? Because if people are advertising on the radio, television or in the papers about it and how good they are doing, what happens if they have a relapse? Then, all the people who were thinking the program works would have second thoughts if they saw someone famous have a relapse.
Nope. Sorry, on this I think Mrs. Williams is totally wrong. Advertising her living in a sober house is a great way to garner sympathy, but if she relapses, it's gonna make the organization that is currently helping her look bad.
Wendy Williams reveals she's been staying in a sober home, battling addiction
Now, while I applaud her trying to get her life together and get help, I definitely don't like the way she is going about it. One of the 12 traditions of AA says that members "must always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.".
The last 8 years I was in the Navy, I was a Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor, and because of that billet and training, I learned quite a bit about AA and how it operates. I asked one of the members once why that was. He then gave me a couple of books to read, "AA Comes of Age", and "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions", the first was a history of AA, and the second explained the steps and traditions, as well as the reason for each.
Well, it seems that in the early days of AA, there were some famous people who were getting sober, and they wanted to advertise how much AA had done for them. Dr. Bob and Bill W. thought about it, and decided against it. Why? Because if people are advertising on the radio, television or in the papers about it and how good they are doing, what happens if they have a relapse? Then, all the people who were thinking the program works would have second thoughts if they saw someone famous have a relapse.
Nope. Sorry, on this I think Mrs. Williams is totally wrong. Advertising her living in a sober house is a great way to garner sympathy, but if she relapses, it's gonna make the organization that is currently helping her look bad.
