Vivek Dahiya Recalls Battling Alcohol Addiction During COVID Lockdown: 'Would Sit With Glass Every Night, Became A Lifestyle'

Divyanka Tripathi's husband, actor Vivek Dahiya, recently opened up about his struggle with alcohol addiction during the COVID lockdown — what began as a concern for his liquor collection gradually turned into a lifestyle, eventually making him realise how it was affecting him. Vivek shared that he was never a heavy drinker and would only consume alcohol during parties. He added that he was never the kind of person to sit down with a glass and think, 'Duniya mein bahot dukh hai, chalo daaru peete hain.'

Speaking on a podcast with Shardul Pandit, Vivek shared that his father once told him that whenever he had a house of his own, he should make sure to have a bar at home. The actor said, "He meant I travel extensively so make sure you acquire and collect drinks. I started doing that and Divyanka and I are quite avid travellers. Hum collect karte rehte the limited edition bottles. Karte karte bar accha ban gaya but we never engaged."

He stated that when the COVID lockdown was imposed, he began worrying about what would happen to his liquor collection if something happened to him — and that concern eventually led him to start drinking. "Every night I used to sit with a glass and watch content, I would not do anything stupid, it became a lifestyle," added Vivek.

However, it soon began to disrupt his lifestyle on a regular basis, affecting things like his sleep and metabolism. He also found it difficult to work out — and exercising, he said, is his life, something he simply can't live without.

"Slowly, frustration started crawling in and then I started witnessing a pattern and realised this is not something I would like to continue doing. Lockdown will eventually get over and I don’t want to find myself to be an alcoholic by the end of it all. When things suddenly become normal and everyone is excited to be going back to work, here I’m stuck with a belly, no hair, dark circles. That’s when I decided this needs to go," said Vivek.

Vivek then attended a couple of therapy sessions to overcome the issue, and now he’s glad to have emerged as a much stronger and more disciplined person than he ever was.