Vivek Dahiya On His Struggles With Alcohol During Lockdown: ‘Became A Lifestyle'

News18

7 days ago

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Vivek turned to therapy, where he would meditate, do breathing exercises and concentrate on things he wanted to achieve to let go of his habit of drinking.
Vivek Dahiya, along with his wife, actress Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya, never misses an opportunity to keep their fans entertained with their food, travel and fitness content. Beyond the smiles and picture-perfect moments lies a chapter that Vivek recently chose to open up about. The actor revealed his personal battle with alcoholism, shedding light on the struggle and how he overcame it.
Known for his roles in Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, Kavach and Qayamat ki Raat, Vivek recently appeared as a guest on the podcast Uncensored with Shardul, hosted by Shardul Pandit on his YouTube channel Shaardulogy. While speaking with the host, the actor candidly revealed that he got addicted to alcohol during the COVID-19 lockdown, which even led to frustration in his life.
The duo was talking about Vivek's personality when the actor said, 'I started drinking, I was never a heavy drinker, very casual party kind of person. I would never sit down with a glass and be sombre, and like duniya mein bohot dukh hai chalo daaru peete hain (there's so much sadness in the world, let's drink alcohol), I was never like that. I was a very occasional party drinker."
Sharing that his father had been like him, Vivek revealed that his dad once advised him that whenever he built his home, he must have a good bar. What his father meant was for him to collect expensive and one-of-a-kind drinks from all around the world on his trip. Vivek shared that he took his father's advice seriously and started collecting limited edition bottles from his trip with his wife. However, he never quite really drank from that collection.
But COVID-19 lockdown changed that. Vivek revealed, 'During lockdown, I suddenly felt that if something happened to me, what would happen to these bottles? Of course, some of it will go to my father and the rest to my father-in-law, but they won't be able to consume it all. So, I started drinking because I was very concerned about it."
He continued, 'Every night, I used to sit with a glass and watch content, I would not do anything stupid. It became a lifestyle," adding that the habit took a toll on his life, disrupting his sleep schedule and metabolism. Vivek even shared that drinking regularly led to an increase in frustration. 'I started witnessing a pattern and realised this is not something I would like to continue doing," he said.
Once the lockdown was eased, Vivek realised how everyone was excited to be going back to their world, but he was 'stuck with a belly, no hair, dark circles." He then realised that he needed to let that habit go and even turned to therapy, where he would be with himself, meditate, do breathing exercises, concentrate on things he wanted to achieve and never look.
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