Everything ‘Bachelorette’ Season 16 Winner Zac Clark Has Said About His Sobriety

Credit: Craig Sjodin/ABC

Everything 'Bachelorette' Season 16 Winner Zac Clark Has Said About His Sobriety

In his own words. Zac Clark has been candid about his battle with addiction since appearing on The Bachelorette. The New Jersey native opened up to lead Tayshia Adams about his sobriety during their one-on-one date, which aired on a December 2020 episode of the series. “I had a brain tumor. The next morning, I’m, like, in surgery. Crazy, life-altering experience,” he said. “As a result of the surgery, I was introduced to pain medication and drugs.” Clark also spoke about how his substance abuse struggles affected his first marriage to Jennifer Stanley-George, telling Adams that she left him after he got a DUI. "She did nothing wrong. It's important to say. But at that point like I'm drinking, doing drugs, and just partying," he said. “For the next kind of, like, eight months, it got pretty gnarly." Stanley-George, for her part, broke her silence during an interview with Us Weekly. “He said [on the show], ‘I left after a DUI’ — I don’t even remember him getting a DUI honestly,” she told Us. “He lied to me about it for years. Our entire relationship he lied to me about his drug use. I mean, I didn’t know. I was very naive.” Stanley-George added that Clark is a “different person” in 2020 than he was during their brief marriage. (The twosome wed in 2009 and separated in January 2011. Their divorce was finalized in 2012.) “He needed to do [get clean] for himself, not for me,” she told Us. “And I think at that point, if we had stayed together, he would have been doing it for me.” [sendtonews type="float" key="AyJZTPH8Y7-2841202-14453"] After the finale, Zac exclusively told Us that he had no regrets about being so open on the reality show. “It’s who I am, you know, so I’m very comfortable with that part of my life,” he said. “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.” Clark cofounded Release Recovery, an addiction recovery program in Westchester, New York, in 2017. Scroll through for more about his battle with addiction:

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The Contract His First Wife Wrote

Stanley-George tried to help Clark stay sober during their marriage by having him sign a contract.

“Me and my wife had signed a contract my first time in treatment. And I thought the thing was bulls—t, right? I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll sign this contract [that said] if you get high again, I’m going to kick you out.’ And sure enough, about two weeks after getting out of treatment, I was trying to get high,” Clark told Vargas. “She walked down, caught me, and she kicked me out that night. She was done. She kept her boundary, her dad drove down. That was the last night I slept in that house. So, I always tell her she saved my life because she was the first person to really tell me that like, you know, the party’s over. Just an amazing job by her of just setting the boundary.”

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Staying Sober on The Bachelorette

“I think half the guys there probably had someone in their life that had been affected by alcoholism or drug addiction. So, they kind of picked up on the cue,” Clark said on the “Heart of the Matter” podcast about the fellow season 16 contestants. “And then the other half, I think they were maybe like, ’Dude, why aren’t you drinking,’ and I’m like, ‘I don't drink,’ and, on to the next one or whatever. I mean, I think, initially, maybe like the first night I was there, there's a little bit of feeling like an outcast because there is a lot of that socialization going on. And for me, it was late at night and I was very sober, and like, what am I doing here?”

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On Abusing Adderall

“There were definitely some nights on the weekends where I was blacking out,” Clark told Vargas of his college experience. “And then at some point, I think I was introduced to Adderall. And the Adderall eventually turned into some cocaine use here and there. I would not tell you that my drug use was so rampant during college. I was playing baseball, and I was trying to get out of there in four years, which I was able to do. And, you know, I started dating a girl my sophomore year that I would eventually marry. So I had a lot of the outsides going on. But I knew at the end of the day that there was something wrong with the way I drank because I was having experiences that other people weren't having, just in terms of, you know, 10 o'clock, lights are out. And then it's the next morning at 11.”

Credit: Courtesy of Zac Clark/Instagram

His DUI

“I was in a bad way, scary,” Clark told Adams on the series about his arrest. “It was, like, touch and go. Moments of like, ‘I’m not sure if I’m gonna make it to tomorrow.’”

Credit: Courtesy of Zac Clark/Instagram

The Story of Rhonda

In December 2020, Clark recalled meeting his “angel” Rhonda Jackson nearly a decade earlier in August 2011.

“Rhonda didn’t know me, didn’t care what I looked like and didn’t judge me. She just knew that I needed help as I tried to cash a forged check so I could get some quick money and keep getting high. Rather than call the cops, Rhonda called my dad (whose name was on the check as the account owner). 3 days prior, I had stolen a handful of checks from my father’s desk and left without a word to anyone,” he wrote via Instagram. “For days, my family looked for me but no luck. Rhonda’s call not only told my father that I was still alive but where I could be found. He rushed down to the bank just in time before I disappeared back to the streets. Two days later I was in treatment getting help and the rest is history.”

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His Dad’s Support

Clark’s dad shared his side of the story during a deleted scene on the hometown dates of The Bachelorette.

“I remember every detail about that day. It’s embedded in my mind. Phone rings and it’s the lady from Pennsauken police that they had arrested you and I said, ‘Can you hold him?’” Dough Clark recalled. “And I got in the car and it was the longest ride, which is only 10 minutes. But, for me, it was the longest ride because I was so afraid. That’s where we were with you in that point in time. And I’ll never forget this as long as I live: I looked at you, and I said, ‘It’s time to go home.’”

Zac called the moment “the beginning of a rebirth.”

He explained: “When you put your arm on my arm, when you said, ‘Son, we’re going home,’ and here I am strung out on every drug under the sun — and you put your arm on my arm and said, ‘Son, we’re going home,’ I said nothing,” he said. “But I [felt] something leave me. It’s like that moment of clarity or whatever it is. That’s a day I’ll never forget.”

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Tayshia’s Reaction

“She didn’t have any direct, I think, experience with it but she definitely had an open mind and she asked all the right questions. Like, early on, she said, ‘Can I drink and then kiss you?’ She’s a sweetheart,” Clark said on the “Whine Down” podcast in January 2021. “It was one of the things that I was most attracted to in her is that — not only with me, but with all the guys there — she was able to take on a lot of s–t and hold space for us.”

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Not Drinking on the Show

While there was speculation that Clark was drinking on the ABC series, he revealed on the “Clickbait” podcast in December 2020 that he hasn’t touched drugs or alcohol since August 2011.

“No, there was no drinking on the show,” he said. “And I gotta say, you know, everyone who worked on the show, anytime there was a toast, there was someone with [sparkling] apple cider [for me].”

Credit: Courtesy of Zac Clark/Instagram

Tayshia’s Support

Clark revealed on “Clickbait” that he knew Adams was serious about him when she opted not to drink during one rose ceremony.

“The guy came out with the tray of champagne and there was four champagnes and one apple cider and she looks at him and she goes, ‘No, I’m drinking apple cider with him tonight,’” he said. “And I said, ‘What?!’ She made the guy go back, get an apple cider while all these people are waiting. So, she was on team Clarky that day, and that’s when I knew.”

Credit: Courtesy of Zac Clark/Instagram

Proud of His Progress

“I’m really proud of who I am and it’s a huge part of me. [Recovery] allows me to live the badass, next-level life that I get to live,” he said on “Whine Down” in January 2021.

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Gallbladder Surgery

During an interview with ABC News’ Elizabeth Vargas in February 2021, Clark revealed he once convinced a surgeon to remove his gallbladder to get painkillers.

“I went to an Eagles game on a Sunday and overdid it, which basically means I did all my drugs. So, I woke up Monday morning with nothing left and I was sick. … I had this crazy thought,” he said on the “Heart of the Matter” podcast, noting he went to the hospital to “talk a doctor into” giving him medication. “I didn’t know what my plan was. And then I think dehydration or something kicked in and I felt my side. I was like, ‘I think I can figure something out here.’ I think I googled whatever symptoms I had to google.”

Clark revealed that the doctor was someone from his hometown. “I knew in that moment that I’m good because he’s gonna believe me. I’m going to schmooze him,” he said. “And sure enough, he was giving me Dilaudid within a half hour and I ended up going through with the surgery. … Right before [they put me under], the doctor looked at me in the eye and he goes, ‘You know what we’re doing today, right?’ I said, ‘Yeah, you’re taking my gallbladder out.’ He said, ‘Before I put you under, I just want to make sure you want to go through with this.’ And I was like, ‘Yep.’ And I did it. It was nuts.”

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The Show's Impact

During an April 2021 episode of the "Talking It Out with Mike & Bryan" podcast, Clark said being sober gave him a "complete advantage" during The Bachelorette. "The bubble alone was like being in rehab," he explained at the time. "Talking about your feelings in front of this camera, you know? Be amongst a bunch of other dudes."

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10 Years

Clark celebrated 10 years of sobriety on August 30, 2021, tweeting: “10 years sober today. For a guy that couldn’t stop shooting heroin, smoking crack and guzzling booze this is truly a miracle. 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.”

Credit: Courtesy Zac Clark

Celebrating Each Step

"Yo 11 Years Sober Today!" the former reality star tweeted in August 2022 as he celebrated being clean for more than a decade. "Sobriety is my superpower that has given me a next level existence that I didn't know was possible. No needles, no pipes, no booze...ALL LOVE AND SERVICE. If I can change, so can you. Keep going."