Anthony Hopkins, Every December 29th
Every year on Dec 29, Anthony Hopkins posts a sobriety anniversary message. A chronological archive of those posts since 2020.
Quitting · Field Notes Archive
Anthony Hopkins, Every December 29th
Every year on or around December 29th, Anthony Hopkins posts a sobriety anniversary message. The dates are exact — he quit drinking on December 29, 1975, after a near-fatal drunken blackout. The widely-covered annual tradition starts at the 2020 (45-year) mark, when the pandemic brought him fully to social media. What follows is a chronological archive of those posts, oldest to newest, with citations to coverage so anything can be checked.
December 29, 2020
45 years sober
“A little message of hope to all of you — to all of you, especially young people. It’s slow, the going’s slow, just hang in there. Just keep in the game.”
A short Twitter/Instagram video released during the pandemic year, addressed especially to young people. He referenced his own December 1975 wake-up call — that the question he’d been asked was, in essence, “Do you want to live or die?” — and that he’d answered “I want to live.”
Coverage: Today — 45 years sobriety
December 29, 2021
46 years sober
No widely-covered Dec 29 message has surfaced for this year — either he didn’t post a standalone video, or it was low-profile enough that the entertainment press skipped it. The annual tradition is established before and after, so the gap here is likely a coverage gap rather than a missed anniversary.
If a 2021 message exists, it’s hiding from search. Open to corrections.
December 29, 2022
47 years sober
“This is a message not meant to be heavy, but I hope helpful. I am a recovering alcoholic. And to you out there — I know there are people struggling. Be kind to yourself.”
The 47-year video. Sat at his desk, talked directly to camera. He explicitly used the words “recovering alcoholic” — the most unequivocal phrasing he’d used to that point. The video circulated heavily on the New Year’s Eve / NYD news cycle.
Coverage: CNN — 47th anniversary message · Deadline
December 29, 2023
48 years sober
“Wishing everyone a healthy 2024.”
Short motivational video. The plain wording is the point — sobriety as the unglamorous, recurring thing he keeps doing every year.
Coverage: Yahoo — 48 years
December 29, 2024
49 years sober
Hopkins detailed the near-fatal December 1975 morning in this one — the drunken blackout, driving the car, the moment of clarity. The most autobiographical entry in the series. He explicitly framed it as a warning and an invitation: “I was in big, big trouble.”
Coverage: Yahoo / She Knows · IMDb
December 29, 2025
50 years sober
“Choose life instead of the opposite. Life, life, life, and more life.”
The 50-year mark. Hopkins, 88, looking straight at camera: “50 years ago today I was nearly killed by driving my car in a drunken blackout. I realized at that point that I was having too much fun. It was called alcoholism.” Then the call to anyone struggling: “Anyone out there who's got a little problem with having too much, check it out because life is much better.”
Coverage: E! News — 50 years · Fox
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Next entry: December 29 of whatever year you're reading this in. He keeps doing it.
See also: The Counterweight · a wider field guide of sober public figures.
Part of the Counterweight archive →