Sharon Gless' Battle with Alcohol-the Untold Story - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 02-26-2021, 06:42 PM

http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/sharon/gless14.html

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"When I think about this situation, my head goes in circles and the only answer seems to be another glass of wine, another belt of scotch."

Sharon's drinking became a problem last November, when she put her romance with Hector on hold to start dating Barney, sources confide. It was an especially stressful time for Sharon, because Barney's estranged wife Barbara was a close friend of hers.

"And because she's so emotionally confused over her romantic problems, she's been eating up a storm, downing plates of pasta. She has put on 25 pounds."

Tearful Sharon told the pal," I can't stand myself. I'm putting on weight, eating everything in sight, and I can't get this boozing under control.

"When I come back fit and healthy, I'll decide what I'm going to do about my love life!"

AB · 02-26-2021, 08:45 PM

Hope she can get it under control. Her character Christine Cagney on Cagney & Lacey also battled with alcohol addiction.

TMC · 12-12-2021, 03:58 AM

'Cagney & Lacey' star Sharon Gless realized that she was an alcoholic after playing one on the groundbreaking '80s show

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In 2021, it wouldn't be such a big deal for audiences to see a lead TV character who's an alcoholic, but in the '80s, when actress Sharon Gless played Detective Christine Cagney on the hit drama Cagney & Lacey, it shocked.

"It's the first time in a dramatic series that any lead had ever fallen from grace. It was very dramatic, and ... we had reactions to that," Gless tells Yahoo Entertainment. "Mothers writing in, saying that, 'I've asked my children to watch it, so that they understand about this disease.' Teenagers would write in, saying, 'I want my father to watch it, because he's [a] drunk.' And we did research, and men were always considered amusing when they were drunk. Women were an embarrassment. Anyway, we did it, and I did get the Emmy for that one."

Gless won one of two Emmy Awards for her performance on the show, which aired from 1981 to 1988, in the year they dealt with alcoholism.

But, as it turned out, playing an alcoholic wasn't that much of a stretch for her. She later realized that she herself had a drinking problem and checked into rehab. She stayed sober for 15 years before she began drinking again, and she's now logged almost eight years sober, she told NPR this week.

"I also had the disease of alcoholism, but I didn't know it at the time," Gless tells Yahoo. "When I played those roles and I played Christine, I just thought I was a social drinker ... with blackouts. And it was at the end of shooting all of the Cagney & Laceys that I went into rehab.”

In all, the police drama won 14 Emmys, including trophies for Gless as best actress in a drama in 1986 and 1987, and it was nominated for 37.

While Cagney & Lacey was lauded for dealing with some of those subjects that others wouldn't touch, which also included abortion and breast cancer, it was criticized as well. Some stations refused to air certain episodes. And some critics picked Gless's acting apart; she notes that they were always men.

Still, Gless said she's "very proud" of the team's work. She writes about her experiences on that show and elsewhere in her new memoir, Apparently There Were Complaints.

"It was totally unconventional, but so's my life been," she says. "I just feel very privileged to have been on it."

Yong Fang · 11-02-2022, 08:25 AM

I also had the disease of alcoholism....

There is no such thing as a "disease of alcoholism/addiction". Alcoholism is a hard wired habit, usually caused by some underlying emotional and/or mental problem in a person's life. It can be caused by anxiety or depression, or bi-polar disorder or other mental/psychological issues.

Also, there is nothing genetic about alcoholism/addiction. Nothing. The reason being is that almost all families, I dare say over ninety percent of families have someone who is an addict/alcoholic. Alcoholism/addiction are learned behaviors, and more often than not, we learn these behaviors from family members.

You might say that the medical community says that alcoholism is a disease so it has to be, well, the medical community is wrong here, either by ignorance or more than likely on purpose. Three hundred years ago, people with fevers had leeches from ponds put on their skin. If someone 300 years ago went "Putting leeches on a patient does nothing...." others would scoff "do you know better than a doctor?" Well, any doctor who calls alcoholism a genetic disease is a moron.

02-26-2021, 08:45 PM	#2
AB Member Eternal Member Forum Icon Join Date: Dec 26, 2006 Location: The South Posts: 59,428	Hope she can get it under control. Her character Christine Cagney on Cagney & Lacey also battled with alcohol addiction.

11-02-2022, 08:25 AM	#4
Yong Fang Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 04, 2009 Location: Memphis Tennessee Posts: 3,072	I also had the disease of alcoholism.... There is no such thing as a "disease of alcoholism/addiction". Alcoholism is a hard wired habit, usually caused by some underlying emotional and/or mental problem in a person's life. It can be caused by anxiety or depression, or bi-polar disorder or other mental/psychological issues. Also, there is nothing genetic about alcoholism/addiction. Nothing. The reason being is that almost all families, I dare say over ninety percent of families have someone who is an addict/alcoholic. Alcoholism/addiction are learned behaviors, and more often than not, we learn these behaviors from family members. You might say that the medical community says that alcoholism is a disease so it has to be, well, the medical community is wrong here, either by ignorance or more than likely on purpose. Three hundred years ago, people with fevers had leeches from ponds put on their skin. If someone 300 years ago went "Putting leeches on a patient does nothing...." others would scoff "do you know better than a doctor?" Well, any doctor who calls alcoholism a genetic disease is a moron.