I'll Never Drink Again Ringo Vows (1988)

 

These were the last photos taken before Barb and Ringo went into rehab

It takes a lot of courage and strength to admit that you have an alcohol problem and take the steps necessary to get help and stay sober.  I admire Ringo and Barbara so much for getting the help they needed and for working the program.  I share this story not to shame Ringo in any way but to show just how far he has come since the Fall of 1988.  What happened between him and Barb was horrifying and terrible, and drunk or not -- there is no excuse for what occurred.   

If you have a drinking problem, please get the help that you need.  If you live in the United States, call 800-662-4357 to speak with someone who can help guide you toward living a sober life. 

I'll Never Drink Again Vow Ringo

No writer listed

Daily Express

November 26, 1988

     Ringo Starr will have a happy but not Merry Christmas this year. There will be good cheer everywhere, but not a drop to drink. 

    The former Beatle revealed yesterday that he and his actress wife Barbara Bach had won their battle against the bottle. "I'm an alcoholic, and my intention is never to drink again," he said.

     Ringo, 48, is back home in Britain after he and Barbara spent 35 days drying out in a US clinic. "I feel a lot better than I have for ages," he said. "I feel I'm handling my life better."  He added, "Our time in the clinic was well worthwhile. We are not under doctors or anybody now. It's up to us."

     Ringo said he and 38-year-old Barbara realized they could never drink again. The drummer was said to have been downing a bottle of brandy a day before checking into the detoxification clinic in Arizona.

     The His and Her cure costs around £40,000. Barbara and Ringo slept in separate rooms and took part in therapy sessions with other alcoholics. Ringo said, "I'm feeling well. I haven't had a drink in 45 days. That's amazing for me. We want to live a normal life now. The first thing we're planning is a really good Christmas. We'll be going away with friends to the sun. I think we will have a wonderful Merry Christmas without drinking. I found out that Father Christmas didn't drink."

     Ringo added, "Barbara is feeling great and she's looking great." He acknowledged that openly confessing his problem was the first step to the cure. Until six weeks ago, he and Barbara could always be found at show business parties with a drink in their hand. One associate said, cruelly, "He'll go to an opening of an envelope."

     Ringo and Barbara checked into the clinic in October, but it was four weeks later before the fact was made public. Then it emerged that their heavy drinking and drug taking had come to a head in September when Ringo spent a week in almost total drunken oblivion. After his lost week, he woke up one day to find Barbara lying battered beside him. He asked her, "Who did it?" And she replied, "You did ." When he saw that he was scratched and injured himself, it was the final straw, and within days, they were in the clinic.

     Ringo, the staid Beatle who usually managed to keep clear of drug scandals, met Barbara on the set of the film The Caveman, at which they both starred. They fell in love and were married seven years ago, but now, after the clinic, "it's soft drinks only," vowed Ringo, who goes back to work in the new year promoting his Thomas the Tank Engine TV series in America.