Overview

William didn't know something was missing until it happened. He'd been in recovery for alcohol and drugs for years. He was a recovery activist and a spokesperson for the gold standard of treatment and recovery organizations. He was a model leader and follower of Twelve Step programs. But, still, he slipped. And his slip lasted a few years. Privately, he was addicted to painkillers while publicly saying he was in recovery from alcohol and drug use. So, was he still in recovery? How could this happen to someone who did everything 'right'? How did it go so wrong? With brutal honesty and introspection, William shares what happened after sobriety - after he'd published his candid and shocking memoir, Broken, in 2007. While he no longer frequented or passed out on the floor of crack houses, his life of sobriety wasn't perfect. But his recovery was strong, or so he thought. Unfortunately, the opioid epidemic was stronger. It broke him. He was Broken Open. Broken Open could be one long story of self-justification. Instead, William takes a courageous look at his recovery and concludes that people in recovery need to take a broader view than he once did. Recovery isn't black and white - it's not you're either sober or you drink, you're clean or you take drugs. It's not success or failure. It's not the Twelve Steps or nothing. Those all-or-nothing approaches don't work for all of us as we continue our life journeys, something which William now understands very well, because he made it through to what he considers a fuller, more evolved recovery. Against the odds, this story has a happy ending. William had the tools and perspective to see where he was and eventually find his way out...not because his recovery community noticed he needed help and offered a way through it, though. Instead of help, he encountered condemnation, secrecy, and closed doors. When he found a solution for his new addiction, the support system he once relied on wasn't open to it. The people in his support system were closed off to the possibilities that enable people to find more success in recovery than ever before. He hopes his story will help others who find themselves in the same place. Not in black-or-white thinking, but in the gray. Because that's where life happens.

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9781616499976

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Reviews

""William Moyers' new book, ""Broken Open""...comes at a time when it's critically needed. The CDC reports that from 1999 to 2021, nearly 280,000 people died in the U.S. from overdoses involving prescription opioids.""--Mary Ann Grossmann ""The St. Paul Pioneer Press"" ""William Cope Moyers' memoir Broken Open: What Pain Killers Taught Me About Life and Recovery, is a moving, totally compelling, fascinating book. As writers, bearing witness is the most important thing we do, and William Moyers has done just that with a vividness, honesty and brilliance that is rare.""--Susan Cheever ""author of My Name is Bill: Bill Wilson - His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous""

"""William Cope Moyers' memoir Broken Open: What Pain Killers Taught Me About Life and Recovery, is a moving, totally compelling, fascinating book. As writers, bearing witness is the most important thing we do, and William Moyers has done just that with a vividness, honesty and brilliance that is rare.""--Susan Cheever ""author of My Name is Bill: Bill Wilson - His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous"""

Author Information

William C. Moyers is the vice president of public affairs and community relations at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. As the organization's public advocate, Moyers carries the message about addiction, treatment, and recovery to audiences everywhere. Using his own story, Moyers highlights the power of addiction and the promise and possibility of recovery from it. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and National Public Radio. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Newsweek. William has written four books, including Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption, a New York Times bestseller that remains in print. Moyers was born in 1959 in Fort Worth, Texas, and was a print reporter in the 1980s and a journalist for CNN until 1995. A year later he joined the staff at (then) Hazelden and has been there ever since. Moyers and his wife, Nell Hurley, live in St. Paul, Minnesota. Between them they share four adult children.

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