Emmerdale star Danny Miller has taken to Instagram to share a huge personal milestone, and a number of his castmates have shown their support. The Aaron Dingle actor has completed an entire year sober and created a reel to explain the reasons behind his life change and detail his experience of going 365 days without alcohol.
Danny Miller’s Emotional Announcement
‘Hi, I’m Danny, I’m 35 and today marks one year of sobriety’, he began the clip. ‘I’ve today marked one year of sobriety, one year since I last had a drink. One year of reinventing myself for my family, trying to better myself, for my children, for my wife. It’s an emotional day for me because I never, ever in a million years believed this was achievable, genuinely.’
He continued: ‘I knew I had a bit of an issue with it. I fell down a rabbit hole with drinking. Steph has been an absolute rock throughout it, despite me itching for a drink every now and again.’ While Danny clarified that he doesn’t identify as an alcoholic, he made the huge change to improve his quality of life in every aspect.
Reasons Behind the Change
‘I’m not an alcoholic by any means. I wanted to better myself, my family, for my career, for my children mainly. Every single water park, theme park event that we used to go with the kids, I’d always have to just check there’s a bar first then I could enjoy myself. It was beyond control, now I’ve changed my ways. I wanted them to get the best version of me without me being frustrated that they were there and they were present when I wasn’t.’
He went on to detail his reasons for speaking out publicly. ‘Why am I doing this video? Do I want to be a voice for sobriety? No. Am I asking for attention? No. Am I asking for praise? No. I’m merely saying that if I can do it, then you can do it. And I know that’s such a boring cliché saying.’
Message to Fathers
‘If you’re lucky enough to be a father, embrace it because it genuinely doesn’t last long enough. They grow up so quickly and then it’s gone. If you’re thinking about doing it, just do it. Please trust me, just do it. One year, no beer. That was what a colleague of mine at work said. One year, no beer. Try it, see how you get on. My career, my family life, everything has just got better since. You can do the same.’
Support from Cast and Friends
Danny’s on-screen mum, Lucy Pargeter (Chas Dingle) wrote: ‘So proud of you son’, while on-screen sister in law, Isabel Hodgins (Victoria Sugden) said: ‘So so proud of you’. Kevin Mathurin (Charles Anderson) wrote: ‘Well done, bro’, and James Hooton (Sam Dingle) added: ‘Proud of you lad!’ while Eden Taylor-Draper (Belle Dingle) posted: ‘Amazing’ and former village enemy, Jay Kontzle (Billy Fletcher) said: ‘Brilliant mate’.
Former Emmerdale co-stars also offered their congratulations, with Gemma Atkinson (Carly Hope) posting: ‘Very proud of you Danny! Well done’, and Jurell Carter (Nate Robinson) adding: ‘Love to see it brother’.
Other stars rushed to offer congratulations to Danny, with TV presenter Ulrika Johnson commenting: ‘It’s life-changing, isn’t it? Well done!’, X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke adding: ‘Well done you!!!!! Family first xx proud of you my friend’ and drag superstar Divina De Campo saying: ‘Well done Danny! That’s brilliant’.
