Former Made in Chelsea star Louise Thompson has been flooded with messages of support as she marked five years of sobriety, admitting she gave up alcohol 'in order to survive'. The 36-year-old took to Instagram to celebrate the milestone, but said she has 'never really seen it as an accomplishment', rather a 'non-negotiable' for her life.
Thompson explained to her followers: 'It was something I had to do in order to survive through my trauma and to build a life that actually felt sustainable. Especially now I need to be a responsible parent. But saying five years out loud feels quite emotional, because there was a time where I genuinely didn't think I could go a week without alcohol.'
The reality star, who appeared on the E4 series from 2011 to 2020, said she 'drank constantly' on the show, which she said didn't help. 'The truth is, I only really felt confident when I was drunk,' she admitted. 'It gave me this temporary version of myself that felt louder, braver and more interesting. But the reality behind the scenes was really quite chaotic.'
Opening up about that chaos, Thompson recalled having her car seized three times because she parked it somewhere and was 'too drunk' to collect it. She said she would also 'wake up in random places, let people down and lost important things'. Now, without alcohol, she sees herself as 'calmer, more present, more honest' with a family that is 'now one of the most solid and important parts of my life'.
Thompson is candid about her health; in 2024, she was fitted with a stoma after being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2018. She had her colon removed after a serious flare-up, following other medical emergencies after she almost died giving birth to her son Leo in 2021.
Alongside an Instagram video, she wrote: '5 years sober. And one of the best non-decisions I've ever made... Bad health wasn't my fault, birth trauma wasn't my fault, my stoma bag wasn't my fault, my mental health wasn't my fault. But drinking kind of was. In a way. I had a choice to drink. Or did I?'
