Keepin' It Friel: Conversations on Recovery

Keepin’ It Friel this week is actress Jennifer Gimenez, who starred in the movies Blow, Vanilla Sky and Charlie’s Angels. She also appeared on the reality shows Celebrity Rehab and Sober House. Jennifer just celebrated 14 years of sobriety, but for many years she abused drugs and alcohol, and even overdosed once. Jenn now travels the country speaking as a recovery advocate.

Genevieve Morton is a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model from South Africa. She moved to Hollywood and seemed to be "living the life" with a successful career and a Maserati. However, she felt like she was dying inside because of her alcohol addiction. She was able to put two years sober together, only to have a boyfriend convince her to drink again one night. Since that slip, Genevieve now has almost 3 years booze-free.

Keepin’ It Friel this week is Anna David, a NY Times best-selling author of 8 books, publisher, TV commentator, and recovery advocate. Anna recently celebrated 19 years clean from drugs and alcohol. She hit rock bottom after being holed up in her apartment for weeks with her cats, doing cocaine.

Keepin’ it Friel this week is Brandon Novak, a former professional skateboarder and star of the MTV show JackAss. Brandon is coming up on five years sober from alcohol and heroin. After spending a year in jail, he finally surrendered to his addiction during his 13th rehab. He now speaks around the country.

Keepin’ it Friel this week is Kiana Dean, a 22 year old foster care advocate, who was born addicted to drugs due to her mom’s meth addiction during pregnancy. As a result of the drugs, the right side of Kiana’s face is paralyzed, she has a heart defect, and has had many surgeries. She bounced around foster homes until a woman she calls her “angel” adopted her. Amazingly, Kiana doesn’t have the victim mentality, and instead got the urge to fight for babies who can’t speak for themselves.