A new man. After being candid with Bachelorette viewers about his struggles with addiction, Zac Clark marked 10 years of sobriety on Monday, August 30.
“10 years sober today. For a guy that couldn’t stop shooting heroin, smoking crack and guzzling booze this is truly a miracle,” the 37-year-old reality TV personality tweeted on Monday. “No matter what you are struggling with today just know that change is possible and you are worth it. You don’t have to be perfect. KEEP GOING.”
Tayshia Adams got engaged to Clark during season 16 of The Bachelorette, which aired in 2020.
“You should be so proud for everything that has transpired as a result of your strength, faith & persistence with your sobriety,” the 30-year-old host replied to Clark’s tweet. “I know I am, because it gave me you! Congrats to you babe! Happy 10♥️.”
During their one-on-one time on the ABC series, Clark was open with Adams about how his first marriage ended amid his substance abuse battle.
“She did nothing wrong. It’s important to say. But at that point like I’m drinking, doing drugs, and just partying,” he told Adams about his ex-wife, Jennifer Stanley-George. “For the next kind of, like, eight months, it got pretty gnarly.”
During an interview with former ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas earlier this year, Clark revealed that he started “experimenting with the painkillers” after he had a brain tumor removed in his early 20s. He noted he went to “any lengths for the next high” at the time — including getting his gallbladder voluntarily removed.
“I think I googled whatever symptoms I had to google,” he explained on the “Heart of the Matter” podcast in February. “I’ll never forget – I probably owe this guy an apology – but the doctor walked in. He’s from my hometown. So, I knew in that moment that I’m good because he’s gonna believe me. I’m going to schmooze him. And sure enough, he was giving me Dilaudid within a half hour and I ended up going through with the surgery.”
Clark, who now works as an addiction specialist, has continued to use his new platform to help others.
“It’s who I am, you know, so I’m very comfortable with that part of my life,” he exclusively told Us in December 2020 about discussing his struggles on the ABC show. “And I think there’s been a lot of questions about that. And for me, it was important to let Tayshia know who I am to my core, and if she wasn’t going to be OK with that, then we [would have] just went our separate ways. But that’s not what happened. She was very open-minded and understanding. And for me, as a whole, like, there’s this whole thing around addiction and mental illness — a stigma. And I don’t even like that word because I feel like it does exactly what we’re trying not to do, which, hopefully, you know, people can see that. I went on this journey, and here I am, and, you know, I live a really blessed life.”
