Andrew Zimmern Reflects on 28 Years of Sobriety: 'I'm Grateful and Very Overwhelmed'

Mary Honkus
·3 min read

Andrew Zimmern has openly talked about his struggle with drugs and alcohol addiction in the past, and on Jan. 28 he celebrated 28 years of sobriety.

The host of the upcoming MSNBC series What’s Eating America made a sentimental Instagram post to commemorate this “golden milestone” and to encourage people who are struggling to seek help.

“Every anniversary I wonder ‘why me’? Why me when so many others end up in jails, institutions or die from this illness,” Zimmern wrote in the caption. “Well, I did jails/institutions and I wanted to die at the end, but the universe had different plans for me.”

In an interview with PEOPLE Now in 2018, the chef recalled his stints in jail and in the hospital while he was in college at Vassar in upstate New York, and what ultimately led to him seeking help.

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Today I’m 28 years sober on the 28th. A golden date. I’m grateful and very overwhelmed. Every anniversary I wonder “why me”? Why me when so many others end up in jails, institutions or die from this illness. Well, I did jails/institutions and I wanted to die at the end, but the universe had different plans for me. I can’t ever begin to repay the debt I owe to others. You all know you are, but especially @amackmn @jimlynden who have held me for the whole ride. Thanks to @kevinboehmboka and @donniemadia for giving me a rare copy of my favorite book, to @chefkalt for keeping a light in the window 30 years ago, to BB my first sponsor who told me showing up high and drunk to meetings wasn’t going to help, to Bert, Jim, and Carty, my first roommates to all my sponsees new and old, and the fellow travelers on the road to happy destiny. To those struggling with this disease, I wasted years not asking for help from people who cared about me. Once I did, that simple act changed my life. Baudelaire said drunkenness was “the great imperative, in order not to feel, times horrid fardel, bruise your shoulders, grinding you into the earth.” I hear ya’ Chuck...but there IS a solution. #higherpowered

A post shared by Andrew Zimmern (@chefaz) on Jan 28, 2020 at 7:23am PST

After college, his problems escalated and he ultimately ended up homeless — squatting in a building in lower Manhattan and stealing to pay for his drug habit. One day he realized he needed to make a change. “I stole some jewelry from my Godmother; I hawked it. I put the $200 down for a room for a month at a flophouse hotel[…]and I tried to drink myself to death. And it didn’t work. I came out of a black out days later, and for the first time in my life I didn’t have that Ace bandage of anxiety and tension around my chest. I did something that I hadn’t done in 15 years which is reach out to somebody to ask for help[…]Four days later, I had a one-way ticket to a treatment center in Minnesota,” he said in the interview.

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Zimmern continued to thank everyone who helped him turn his life around, and hopes his post will provide that same service for others. “To those struggling with this disease, I wasted years not asking for help from people who cared about me. Once I did, that simple act changed my life.”

Zimmern has been busy filming and promoting What’s Eating America, which will explore the politics of food. The five episode series will premiere on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 9 p.m. ET on MSNBC.