Katey Sagal Reveals How Alcoholism ‘Incinerated’ Her Music Career in Heartfelt Talk with Christina Applegate

• Katey Sagal confided in Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler regarding her “life-threatening condition,” addiction to alcohol
• Sagal guest-starred on the March 11 installment of Applegate and Sigler’s podcast, MesSy, detailing that she commenced drinking at 15 as a means of self-medication and to avoid confronting “emotion”
• The 71-year-old actress disclosed how her dependency influenced her early music journey, stating she “effectively destroyed it”

Katey Sagal revealed her initiation into drinking and drug use as a teenager, explaining that “I self-medicated” with these substances to evade “dealing with emotions.”

During her conversation on the March 11 episode of the podcast, MeSsy, the 71-year-old actress recounted, “I began using drugs and alcohol at a very young age, specifically when I was 15.”

“I’m someone who for probably the initial 30 years of my existence, didn’t confront [with] anything,” Sagal expressed to Sigler and Applegate, who portrayed her fictional daughter on Married…with Children over 11 seasons. “I self-medicated to the extent that I didn’t genuinely engage with my feelings. My parents passed away, I battled cancer in my 20s, I mean, a lot of undesirable events occurred, and I didn’t truly address them. And then, you know, I ceased self-medicating, and now I must confront it.”

Sagal acknowledged the challenges Applegate and Sigler endure with their chronic autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis, saying, “I’m certain as you confront a life-threatening condition — which as an individual struggling with alcoholism, I confront a life-threatening disease — it brings to the forefront of your mind your own mortality,” Sagal remarked. “Thus, there is a certain level of maturity that I believe having the disorders you both possess has compelled you, likely in some profoundly positive ways, to contemplate, ‘This is it, man. This is the moment, do you see?’ ”

As the Sons of Anarchy veteran stated, “It’s my chosen way of living, but to remain fearless, to walk in faith, and to be someone capable of examining the darker aspects and truly processing them, I have learned this lifestyle, which I consider to be the greatest motivation. Because, you see, the courageous part of embracing sobriety is that life is incredibly frightening. And one must confront it. And what I have discovered through the community around this is I know many individuals who have traversed similar paths to mine. Therefore, you know, the antithesis of addiction is community.”

Sagal explained that it wasn’t always this way, discussing how her dependencies effectively ruined her musical career. “Due to my own self-sabotage, I basically obliterated it, burned it down entirely,” said Sagal, who has since produced two albums and contributed a song to the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack. “I understand this in retrospect, but it’s simply not possible to show up intoxicated for a performance. Yet, at times, I did.”

Moving ahead, she indicated that she has maintained an “open conversation” with her youngest of three kids, daughter Esme, 18, regarding alcohol — especially now that she is preparing for college. “We discuss extensively the importance of avoiding drugs altogether. She has been raised in a no-alcohol household. So, we plan to allow her to experience some alcohol before she enters college. Simply because I believe the first encounter shouldn’t happen at a fraternity party with a keg or anything similar.”