Moments of Clarity: Voices from the Front Lines of Addiction and Recovery

by Christopher Kennedy Lawford

Christopher Kennedy Lawford’s New York Times  bestselling memoir, Symptoms of Withdrawal, offered readers a startling, first-hand look at his own addictions to drugs and alcohol, prompting People magazine to write, “Few have written so well about the joy of drugs, and few are as unsparing about their drug-driven selfishness.” In his bestselling follow-up, Moments of Clarity, Lawford presents “Voices from the Front Lines of Addiction and Recovery.” With contributions from Tom Arnold, Alec Baldwin, Meredith Baxter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Richard Dreyfuss, Anthony Hopkins and many others, Moments of Clarity is an important addition to the literature of recovery.

Genres: Addiction, Nonfiction, Self Help, Memoir, Biography

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Michaella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up in Barns & Noble yesterday and I couldn't put it down. This book covered so much more than addiction and recovery for me. It covered relationships with God and spirituality. I could connect with these people and understand how they felt. Regardless of their accomplishments and awards, there was still an emptiness that wasn't dealt with until they entered recovery. Another thing that struck me was how they came to realize that they were not victims although all of them had things that happened to them. They came to understand that they were doing the most damage to themselves. This book was really amazing. It's changed the way that I think about myself. I realize that I'll never be completely cured. I'm a work in progress (the main emphasis being on work). I have to keep working to be the person that I want to be. I also realized that I am pretty quick to forgive other people of their flaws and mistakes but I am not that way when it comes to my mistakes. Another thing that comes up in the book is fear. It makes you realize that fear is wasted energy. You can make it through the things you fear the most. You will be ok. I would recommend this book to anyone.

[Darron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deserves 10 stars. It changed my life.

[Jessica Biggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book many years ago when a loved one was in the throes of addiction (which ended up killing him), and I thought it would be beneficial to read to help support him in sobriety.
This book is a compilation of stories from many famous people about the moment they realized they needed to get sober. I love the premise of it, however the execution fell flat. Most are from non-writers, and lack the depth i was hoping to get out of this book.
Jamie Lee Curtis’s story is the exception, which is funny since my loved one adored her. This is my favorite quote from her story:
“hopelessness is the state of no change. Change equals hope, so you can’t escape hopelessness without change. I think that change is an absolute necessity, for any sort of salvation.”
I was looking to get more out of this book, but hopefully it touches the people who really need it.

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “THERE… BUT FOR THE GRACE OF G-D… GO I!”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This book is a collection of proclamations from forty-three people who had hit the bottom of the pitch-black-unforgiving-hideous-abyss… known as addiction. Some are recovering drug addicts… some are recovering alcoholics… some have eating disorders… some have a combination of addictions. Many who bare the dark side of their soul on these pages are famous… but I don’t think that’s worth mentioning… because that isn’t the reason to read this book. Addiction strikes everyone (according to statistics there are over TWENTY-TWO-MILLION ADDICTS JUST IN AMERICA) and most of them are just ordinary people like you and me… and to be frank… people like you and me… are more important to me… than multi-multi-millionaire celebrities. I have been personally affected in my life by the humbling-non-prejudicial-monster known as addiction… when I lost for ten years… the greatest and best friend I ever had in my lifetime… to addiction. To have seen what addiction did to him… is to witness first hand… the strongest of the strong… the proudest… of the proud… a self-made street-fighting success story… not be merely knocked to his knees… but to be laid out… flat on his stomach… on a dirty hotel floor… with a gun in his hand… hiding from the world… a world… that he had dominated. What the author rightly calls “MOMENTS OF CLARITY”… I call “LYING FACE DOWN ON THE STREET OF LIFE… WITH YOUR FACE ENGULFED BY MUD AND BILE… AND BY SUMMONING EVERY LAST OUNCE OF STRENGTH AND DESIRE… TO SOMEHOW… FORCE YOUR UPPER TORSO… UP OUT OF THE MIRE… ON ONE ARM… AND THEN BY UTILIZING EVERY BIT OF FIBER… AND MORAL FORTITUDE… THAT G-D HAS LEFT IN YOUR BODY… YOU REACH UP WITH YOUR OTHER ARM… TOWARD THE SKY… TOWARD THE SUNSHINE… CRYING… I DON’T WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS ANYMORE… I DON’T WANT TO BE AN ADDICT!”

When my “BEST-FRIEND” bravely reached his bedraggled arm to the sky… I was there. I went with him to the “MUTUAL SUPPORT GROUP MEETINGS”… and let me tell you… I learned the loving-beauty and grace… of a hug! I’ll never forget the day when my best friend… a Viet Nam era veteran… was clean for about five months… and he got up to “share” his story with the other members of our “ANONYMOUS” meeting. When he was finished… and started to walk back to his seat… one of the members from the sea of our anonymous army… walked straight up to him… and put a giant loving bear hug on him… and said… **WELCOME HOME BROTHER… THE WAR IS OVER!** I had tears streaming down my cheeks… and so did they. That spiritual moment… was OVER FIFTEEN-YEARS-AGO… and yet… it was like yesterday. I wrote a poem for my friend at the beginning of his battle for recovery… that he carried around with him… and still does to this day. He gave this poem to other people who suffer. I’ve given it to friends… and friends of friends. I am going to include it here… because… in my opinion… that’s what this book is all about.


“Now that my ladder’s gone, I must lie down where all the ladders start, in the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.”

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
(Written before 1939)

***READING THESE FEW WORDS BY YEATS INSPIRED THE FOLLOWING POEM! ***


WHEN YOU’VE LOST EVERYTHING THAT IS “YOU”…
OR EVERYTHING DEAR TO YOU…
ANIMATE OR INANIMATE…

WHERE DO YOU GO? … WHAT DO YOU DO? …

WHO DO YOU TURN TO? …

THE THING OR THINGS THAT MADE YOU … YOU…

WHETHER THE WORLD SAW WHAT IT WAS,
OR IF ONLY DEEP INSIDE THE DARKEST REACHES OF YOUR SOUL,
DID IT EXIST ONLY KNOWN TO YOU…

WHEN YOU FACE DEATH OR TRY TO HOLD ON TO LIFE,
AND THE ENEMY ABOUNDS,
WHERE DO YOU GET THE RESOLVE … THE STRENGTH TO HOLD ON?..

HOW DO YOU FIGHT BACK?…

WHERE DO YOU FIND THAT SECRET VOICE,
THAT CAN TELL YOU TO HOLD ON,
THAT CONVINCES YOU TO FIGHT BACK,
THAT MAKES YOU BELIEVE YOU DESERVE TO GO ON…

ON THAT DAY YOU TURN DISGUSTEDLY TO A MIRROR,
AFRAID TO SEE… WHAT YOU KNOW YOU’VE BECOME..

OR ON THE DAY THERE IS NO HELP “OUT THERE”,
WHERE CAN YOU POSSIBLY GO?….

WHEN YOUR WORLD IS FULL OF ENEMIES AND THE WORST ONE IS YOU,
YOU MUST LOOK SILENTLY WITHIN…

YOU MUST LOOK WITH EYES UNBIASED,
LIKE A STRANGER ON A BUS…

TO SURVIVE YOU GO BACK TO YOUR SECRET PLACE OF STRENGTH,
THAT VAULT WITHIN YOU…
WHERE YOUR COURAGE AND PRIDE RESIDES…

IN THIS PLACE YOU ALONE FACE YOUR SINGULAR TRUTHS…

SOME ARE SO UGLY YOU'RE THANKFUL NO ONE ELSE CAN SEE…

OTHERS ARE SO PURE OF BEAUTY IT’S A WONDERMENT,
ALL HUMANITY CAN’T SEE…

IN HERE, IS WHERE FINAL, SINGULAR, DECISIONS, ARE MADE…

TO FIGHT BACK… GIVE UP… TO LIVE OR TO DIE…

“Where all ladders start, in the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart”


Rick Goldstein
2/28/94

[Libbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book arrived as a donation to my LFL---I began reading the Introduction and had to finish it. Very enlightening. I feel my addiction to sugar and spending has much in common with the drug and alcohol addictions. Most readers will recognize many of the people whose struggles are shared.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great recovery book. A collection of stories to inspire, especially from some public people I didn't expect. Just personal stories - no advice or preaching, and often very funny in between the insightful.

[Blaine Morrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lawford enlisted several prominent actors, musicians, and politicians - along with some outstanding recovery servants - to tell their stories and share how they became sober. The stories are far more similar than different: each person had to surrender, admit defeat, and submit to a higher power.

[Megan Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of addiction and recovery stories - always a pleasure to read.

[Derek Wallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book - enjoyable, informative, inspiring. An essential work for anyone wants to understand the hell of addition and the miracle of recovery.

[Patrick A. Cosentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overcoming addiction

I was really encouraged by the honesty of the participants. More needs to be known about those who succeed in defeating addiction.

[Trubrulo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether or not addiction is a problem in your life, this book provides great insight into the addict's mind.

[Alysa Holloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty powerful stuff

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heartfelt descriptions of folks who have reached their breaking point, rock bottom, and then ultimately their moment of clarity leading to recovery. What I found most helpful was seeing how God seemed to play a role in nearly every person's story. Our current culture is devoid of God and spirituality and I believe this is a big reason for the widespread addiction and suicide we see today. Ironically, I believe even the most well to do person has something to learn from those folks who have been brought to their knees by addiction. God is coming back to the human consciousness and we can look to those folks who are already walking the path for guidance.

[Sirreene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I attended a fund raising event having been told that it would be a terrific night with an amazing speaker. I was late and missed hearing the introduction of the night's speaker. His handsome face as an actor was unknown to me but I was immediately engrossed by his voice. The audience went silent and with an eloquent delivery he spoke of family anecdotes and addictions. I was completely charmed by the man whose family members I soon recognized as those from an earlier "Camelot" presidency. Mr. Lawford was surprisingly entertaining and is an impassioned and animated speaker.
This book was provided for free for those guests that wanted a copy hence a lengthy line.
From the end of the line I watched as people exchanged words with Mr. Lawford, who appeared unhurried as time elapsed and continued chatting amicably with every person in the line. Some people were trying to nudge him to a quicker pace. He stayed until each person who wished to speak to him was given their allotted time and continued to sign books. The fund raising people seemed quite happy that their speaker was taking his time with the audience as this is what it is about -raising money.
It was my attendance at this evening that makes me give the book 5 stars - having heard him speak - when you read the book his personality resonates through the written words.

[Lauretta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. Although the vast majority of people interviewed had primarily alcohol problems and were from a very small slice of humanity (the rich and famous), the book offers an invaluable window into some common issues that may occur on the path from addiction to long-term recovery. My impression is that the book presents a fairly one-sided (i.e., 12-step approach) approach to treatment, an approach that has been repeatedly demonstrated to be one of the more successful in treating substance abuser. Readers should be cautioned that there are other alternatives and also sensitive to the fact that the 12-steep approach is not a panacea. I was sorry not to see how Lawford asked questions or shaped the interview as this would have helped me better contextualize the interview, but clearly he is able to get people to talk about very sensitive and personal experiences. Granted, these are articulate individuals who have done a lot of self-reflection prior to sitting down with Lawford. They perhaps are not your "average" addict in treatment, but I was still able to discern commonalities between Lawford's interviews and those I have read or conducted with people with addictions but who may be less psychologically minded.

[Carolyn Alfieri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I get it. We in recovery all have a story to tell. Although I can "identify" with Jamie Lee Curtis's addiction to Vicodin, I found the rest of the book very dry (if you will pardon the pun). Half of the people that shared their stories, I didn't even know and those that I did, I found it difficult to read through. Maybe it's because I don't have a house in Malibu and never won an Oscar, but I find I enjoy "war stories" from us "little people" : people who had everything and lost it all and are clawing our way back out into the light. It's hard, for me to take anyone seriously who was in and out of a $5,000.00 a day rehab like they were going to the supermarket to pick up milk and then went home to their huge house, adoring and supportive public and a million dollar bank account.
God bless, Mr. Lawford for all the help he has done in bring addiction AND recovery to the public (yes, I do get a bit weepy at those Goodwill commercials), but maybe you should stick to your day job. I'm just saying.

[Colleen Wainwright · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of interviews with self-identified alcoholics and addicts (plus one man who doesn't identify as either, but who recognized he didn't want to add to his considerable troubles by drinking), each sharing the moment s/he knew it was time to quit. I'm always struck by the honesty of those in the recovery community, and these stories are no exception. They're told simply and undramatically; collectively, they shed light on the cunning, baffling, and powerful family disease of alcoholism, and how it disregards class, race, status, ability, and any other cultural differentiator. That said, I cop to reading the stories of the recognizable names first, which, personal issues aside, hints at the danger in breaking anonymity. It's tricky; just as with certain reality shows featuring the cautionary tales of the rich and (once) famous, there may be value in seeing that the mighty fall, too. Whatever gets people in the doors? Enh. Who am I to judge?

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned from this book that there are common threads for those that were interviewed in Christopher Lawford's book. That they are to be admired and respected for their strength. That it is a will to be alive that sometimes miraculously takes hold of their devestating existance. Through their hardships, they learn so much about themselves, and it appears that most, in order to stay in recover need to give back what they have learned in their journey. Though, they help others, they understand that they are a messenger and are not responsible for anyone elses recovery. It was reiterated for me, through this book, the strength and resilience of the human spirit. Thank you, Christopher Lawford, for this book.

[Lane Willson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moments of clarity is a compilation of recovery stories representing a broad range of folks. However, on the whole I found it a bit disappointing. Many of the stories caused me to question the sobriety of their creators, and others brought the standard southern declaration of failure “bless their heart”. That being said, there were a few that were quite inspiring. For these stories the moments of clarity were profound and universal. I especially liked Jamie Curtis, Earl Hightower, Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, and Marie Morning-Glory. Ultimately the suggestion of always looking for similarities rather than differences makes this a worthwhile read.

[julie Warmington · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard an interview with Christopher on the radio and discovered he is the UN Ambassdor for drug recovery. He had a lot of very interesting things to say about people who are facing this illness, I was impressed enough to get this book out of the library. Amazing stories of courage and determination. Worth a read. If you knew nothing about the battle addicts face this book is a good starting point.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moments of Clarity is a collection of essays/interviews with drug addicts and alcoholics (mostly famous ones) talking about their "moments of clarity"--the moments they knew they needed to stop using. I found it to be really insightful and interesting and inspiring, even though i've never had a drug problem.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compilation of recovery stories based on interviews Lawford had with those willing to public concerning their many addictions. Much wisdom and gut level honesty is found here, along with generous helpings of hope and gratitude.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very inspirational stories for anyone who has confronted addiction and although the famous folks (many of whom I'd never heard of) are clearly living soberly through the AA-model and God is evoked throughout, it is accessible to anyone regardless of their belief system.

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read and uplifting to those going through recovery. Always nice to know that the celebrities that are idolized by our society are nothing more than humans making the same mistakes and facing the same struggles the rest of us go through.

[Michael Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting series of short first person stories from people who have overcome addictions. Each recounts their "moment of clarity", when they realized they needed help and started on the road to recovery.

[Lori Herbst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories, nicely packaged. While it was interesting to read the celebrity stories of addiction and clarity, I wish there had been more "everyday" people involved. A little bit of privilege here, I suppose...

[Debby Sketchley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important commentary o recovery. Entertaining and touching

[Carrie F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As part of the recovery community, I'm glad Lawford stuck to the 12 Step Program tradition of not revealing identity. Why does Lawford need to use "Kennedy" in his name?

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a recovered addict/alcoholic: I found the stories told by these "Famous" people to be reminders that addiction doesn't discriminate.

[Karen]

This is a very good book. Recovering addicts sharing their moments of clarity.