Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant and Emmerdale star Lisa Riley has celebrated seven years of sobriety. The actress, who is best known for her role as Mandy Dingle in the ITV soap, shared the news with her followers on Instagram and Twitter with a photo of the number 7.
Lisa, 46, began captioning the post: "LUCKY 7... TODAY. I CELEBRATE VERY VERY VERY PROUDLY 7 YEARS SOBER….it’s only fair I put it brightly in the spotlight….Living a life to to the absolute fullest. Smiling from ear to ear.
"I don’t hide behind anything - Not needing “liquid courage”……I have conversations because I want to, not because I’m bored - and let me please admit my favourite, I laugh naturally…."
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Lisa continued: "Loving that I’m living a clear, real, honest, sincere, true existence….There is never a day where I wake up and feel like I’m not ME….with a built in “natural courage” that has the confidence to say, “if you don’t like me….well so be it”…….I couldn’t care less, not one tiny inch what people think, and I love that, confidence and positivity puts the biggest spring in my step….Because for so so so many years I hid behind “drunk me” as I wasn’t happy. But happiness now flows through my veins….not Malbec."
Following the lengthy post, Lisa was flooded with congratulatory comments. One person said: "CONGRATS!! SO PROUD," as another shared: "Congratulations such a massive achievement and such an inspiration."
A third said: "I absolutely loved this post ...my day 1 today ...looking forward to when I can say my 7 years..you are an inspiration," and a fourth commented: "I never knew that - absolutely well deserved CONGRATULATIONS!!!"
Lisa first appeared on Emmerdale in 1995 but left the series in 2001. She would return to Emmerdale in 2019 and has since been involved in several big storylines.
During the period between her first and second stint on Emmerdale, the 46-year-old appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012 and was partnered with Robin Windsor. She finished fifth in the competition.
Strictly Come Dancing is set to return to BBC One in the autumn. For more showbiz and television stories, get our newsletter here.
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