Mathew Pritchard, the Welsh reality TV star known for MTV's Dirty Sanchez, marks four years of sobriety on 6 October, saying it “feels f***ing brilliant”. The 53-year-old, who once drank four bottles of wine a night and took a handful of morphine and codeine every morning, now dreams of a barefoot life in Greece, growing his own organic food.
Rock bottom and recovery
Pritchard, from Cardiff, shot to fame as co-creator and star of Dirty Sanchez, known for extreme stunts and wild nights out. After 30 years of partying, he hit rock bottom with incidents including choking on his own vomit and urinating on another famous celebrity. His addiction began just before Dirty Sanchez started filming and spiralled as the show's fame gave him access to the UK's biggest parties.
At the height of his addictions, during lockdown, he drank favoured IPAs “like they were going out of fashion” and took “handfuls every morning” of morphine, diazepam and codeine. He has previously revealed that he tried hard drugs like heroin. He said: “The parties got bigger and wilder as fame hit with the popularity of the show. I just enjoyed drinking and taking drugs – I did it because I'm a very shy person and it brought me out of my shell.”
Breaking point and new life
He said: “[During the worst of it], I almost choked on my sick in my sleep one night and my mental health was in bits. The anxiety was the worst.” The breaking point came on 6 October, 2022, when he suffered a “breakdown” and decided to go cold turkey – it was that or eventually ending up “six feet under”.
He rebuilt his life with therapy, nutrition and exercise, and now keeps a “tight circle” of friends to “protect my energy”. He said: “I was afraid of my shadow and of leaving the house back then but today, with my exercise and clean diet, I feel the best I've felt in years. Certain friendships weren't what they were so I did a lot of work in changing that. I now keep a tight circle and protect my energy with who I share it with. Like most people, I still have my bad days but on the whole I'm feeling good.”
Future plans
Pritchard admits he nearly relapsed when his beloved dog, Lemmy, died in May this year. He said: “I want a house in Greece with some land so I can grow my own food and walk around in organic cotton barefooted. With my own gym and my bike to go cycling. Then I will get myself another springer spaniel and call him Ozzy. Losing Lemmy, it hurt and it still does, I could have hit the bottle again but I didn't. I never thought I would ever be happy again but today I am. It's weird because after a while it feels like the universe is watching you and all of a sudden good things start happening to you in life. I am [most grateful for] my fiancé Ciara and my sobriety.”
When asked how he would have celebrated big moments in the past, he said: “Good lord, order a massive bag of drugs and get on it for three days. Sorry for being so blunt but that's exactly what would have happened. [On 6 Oct, I’ll be celebrating the date of my sobriety] with a pint of water. I just see blue skies these days and everything I work towards now is for mine and Ciara's future in the sun. It's hard work but I must keep believing.”
Two years into sobriety, Pritchard launched the wellness company Dirty Health with Craig Armstrong, helping others with nutrition, fitness and food sensitivity testing. As for his plans for the next four years, he said: “Working for my dreams.”
