Not afraid to share his truth. Catastrophe star Rob Delaney celebrated 17 years of sobriety on Monday, February 4, and detailed how his clear mind helped him through his 2-year-old son’s death.
“17 years ago I was in a wheelchair. Today I’m not,” Delaney, 42, began a lengthy Instagram post. “I am profoundly grateful to the alcoholics who shined a light on the path for me and helped equip me with the skills to live life well.”
The Deadpool 2 actor continued with a nod to he and wife Leah’s tough past 12 months following Henry’s death. “This has been a brutal year for my family and me,” Delaney wrote. Henry passed away in January 2018 after losing a battle with brain cancer. “Our first year without our son and brother Henry. Had I not been sober it would have been far worse. As it was, I squeaked by.”
Delaney added that sobriety has “allowed me to be a reasonably good dad, husband and worker though [sic] it all. (If you average it out. I think.).” He also noted, “Sobriety allows me to grieve fully, and grief is an expression of love.”
The Boston native concluded the post with gratitude to his support system. “Thank you to everyone who has helped me,” he wrote. “I can’t do it alone.”
Delaney revealed in December 2018 that he and Leah had welcomed a baby boy in August, just seven months after Henry lost his battle with cancer.
“We likely would’ve had a fourth anyway. But I mean, there’s mixed feelings,” the writer told the Sunday Times. “It’s sort of like they touch each other a little bit, they exist in separate lanes. Having another child in no way, shape or form eases the grief of Henry dying.”
Delaney went on to add that the “magical” addition to their family has already brought them so much joy. “I want to gobble him up and he deserves our full attention and love,” the comedian gushed. “And he grew in the same womb as Henry.”
Despite the heartbreak that Henry’s death brought, the Key and Peele alum told the outlet that he’s open to people asking questions about the toddler’s cancer fight.
“I tell people, I’m a balloon that is filled almost to the point of bursting, and when you bring up my dead son, it’s like you’ve let a little out. It’s like a gift,” he explained. “I’m an ambassador from the f—king other side now, and I feel a bit of a responsibility, being in the public eye, to show people what grief looks like. It’s just so weird to me how we deny grief, how we shut it out.”
