Posted on 01/10/2015 7:52:35 AM PST by BenLurkin
1988 is when she crashed: “It was nonstop work. The money was rolling in. You have a lot of people relying on you. But I get it, I signed up for the job so follow through – I just couldn’t, I couldn’t follow through. And, I tried to take my life.”
Babilonia hit rock bottom.
“Once I was getting my stomach pumped, a little light went on saying, ‘You have a voice and you’re allowed to use it. So, girl, use it,’ ” she said.
It’s an emotional subject for Babilonia, and some things are still too difficult to discuss.
“You just never know where life is going to take you. But just being sober, I’m now six years sober, and that’s probably the biggest thing, the biggest accomplishment: that I pulled it together.”
(Excerpt) Read more at losangeles.cbslocal.com ...
It’s called anonymous’’ for a reason. The reason being to put principals before personalities.
No mention of AA in the article. She may have gone through a different program.
I did not see anything about AA in the article. Perhaps I overlooked it?
And, fwiw, AA has never claimed that it alone has the lock on recovery and sobriety.
I remember her a beautiful skater and woman.
I didn’t mention A.A. And you’re right, A.A doesn’t claim a lock on sobriety. It’s just that it’s the most successful self-help group in existence and the first that all others have copied.
World Pair Skating Champion and Figure Skating Legend Tai Babilonia Always Wears a Crescent Moon Pendant That Was Given to Her by Rock Star Stevie Nicks in 1979 - She Never Takes the Good Luck Charm Off.
I always wondered how different her life would have been if she and Randy Gardner did not have to pull out of the Olympics in 1980.
Even though people might think their lives were easy, they actually went through quite a bit. Gardner was the product of rape who searched for years for his birth mother. He didn’t know he was adopted until 1998 when he was 40 years old! He came out as gay a few years ago.
Tai had a failed marriage, a single mom, was an alcoholic, and was engaged to comedian David Brenner for several years before they broke up.
Not sure what your point is. Anyone can publicly claim they are an alcoholic and even say the belong to AA. The anonymous part comes from the tenet that says, "I can say I'm an alcoholic but you, or anyone else, cannot." Anonymous means you don't go around telling people who you saw in a meeting.
didn’t she try and commit suicide at one point?? to this day I remember watching the 1980 Olympics and seeing her in tears on the side of the rink as they had to pull out of the competition because of Gardner’s injury....vivid memories going through my head right now with Dick Button’s commentary..
I was training for the ‘84 and ‘88 olympics at the time (decathlon) and had a journal of my training regiment and wrote in big letters “STRETCH” in the journal that night...
Any one who faces these demons daily - by AA or what ever - is courageous as hell, in my book. Good for her !!
Agreed.
She sounds like a quitter.
I have faced the horrors of alcoholism and remember it’s horrible past. My recovery was through AA and I absolutely couldn’t have done it without them. I can’t tell you how many times I said “that’s it” and poured it down the drain, only to become violently ill from detox and start right back. Alcoholism doesn’t care who you are or where you come from and it has a grip like no other addiction. I was going through 2 gallons of whisky a week. I’d start with 4 to 5 to five shoots straight out the bottle in the morning followed with 1 or 2 at lunch and probably hit one of the bottles I stashed on the ranch before heading to the house, then it was drink until I went to bed. The whole time this was taking place I was still managing to take care of the ranch and all the oil and gas. Then came the day when all things changed.
I was so disgusted with myself my weakness and the damage that alcohol was doing not just to me but my marriage and those around me that I ended up sitting on the back patio with a pistol to my head. As much as I tried to pull the trigger I could not, a flash of all those who would be hurt by my selfish act passed before my like lightning. The next day I was on the plane headed to South Padre Island to Origins Recovery Center. After 4 days of medically supervised detox at the hospital I went into treatment. Long story short I’m now fully recovered, in better shape than a man in his 60’s should be and truly enjoying life again. I decided I wanted to live and AA and Origins made it happen, I was given a second chance.
Anybody can sober you up but AA gives you the tools to stay sober if you really want to. That’s the kicker! If anybody has questions about AA or sobriety my PM box is always open.
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