Image Source: Greg Travers
Zac Clark is looking back on his sober journey. On Aug. 30, the winner of season 16 of “The Bachelorette” celebrated 11 years sober, and he used the occasion to share an important message on social media for anyone who might be struggling. Clark had previously opened up about his relationship with drugs and alcohol on Tayshia Adams’s season of the ABC show, but as he hit this important milestone, he shared how appreciative he is for all the love. “11 years sober today, I’m super grateful, I feel very loved,” Clark said in a video posted to both his Instagram and TikTok accounts.
He continued, “As I sit here and I reflect on the past 11 years of my life, I can’t help but recognize that actually this has nothing to do with me. This has to do with the people that paved the path for me, those that came before me and more importantly, the person that is out there still struggling today, struggling with their addiction, struggling with their mental health, feeling like they cannot go on.”
“This life is easy and it’s beautiful and it’s available to you if you want it.”
“I have people that come up to me all the time and say, ‘How do you stay sober?’ ‘How do you have fun?’ and I laugh because I’ve been given this next-level existence that I am so proud of. Hard was being out there on the street being willing to die to get high one more time, for one more hit. This life is easy and it’s beautiful and it’s available to you if you want it. Ask for help, we are here for you . . . I promise it gets better.”
Clark’s openness about his addiction on “The Bachelorette” instantly made him beloved by Bachelor Nation. Beyond what we saw on TV, he’s made it his mission to help others in the way that he was guided in his own recovery. Clark is the cofounder of Release Recovery, a New York-based recovery program, and runs the Release Recovery Foundation, a nonprofit supporting those in need of substance-abuse and mental-illness treatment.
If you follow him on social media, you know he’s also an avid runner and currently preparing to run his 10th marathon — the New York City Marathon — in November with his Release Recovery Foundation team. Although Clark and Adams called off their engagement and broke up in November 2021, they seem to be nothing but supportive of each other. They even ran the New York City Marathon together last year.
Clark shared another message on Twitter on his milestone anniversary: “Yo 11 Years Sober Today! Sobriety is my superpower that has given me a next level existence that I didn’t know was possible. No needles, no pipes, no booze. . . ALL LOVE AND SERVICE. If I can change, so can you. Keep going.”