Christy Carlson Romano is publicly acknowledging a milestone she hit in her sobriety journey.
via People:
The former Even Stevens star, 37, shared that she is five year sober in a TikTok posted Sunday. In the video, Romano lip-syncs the lyrics to “Know Yourself” by Drake, “I’ve been running through the six with my woes.”
“Graduated from [an] IVY league [school], sober for 5 years, have 2 daughters,” reads the text across the screen.
Romano suddenly appears confused as she reflects on what she’s managed to accomplish over the years. The actress then lip-syncs the same lyrics as her achievements are listed once more.
“#DeepRealization,” she captioned the TikTok. “Life hits you hard sometimes…”
Romano, who attended Barnard College, received several supportive comments on the post. High School Musical actress KayCee Stroh wrote that Romano is “amazing,” while Romano’s husband, actor and producer Brendan Rooney, commented: “Proud of you mama!”
Responding to Rooney, Romano wrote that she “couldn’t do life without” him.
Romano is best known for starring on the hit Disney Channel series Even Stevens, Kim Possible and Cadet Kelly. In her late teens, she began to struggle with alcohol usage and depression.
“It’s hard for people to understand that oftentimes child actors appear to have an inflated ego to make up for the fact that they have no idea who they really are underneath it all, a defense mechanism that many young people are familiar with,” she wrote in a Teen Vogue essay in 2019. “I have two friends from my earlier Disney Channel days who died by suicide. You can search their names, I am sure, to try and find some sense in their deaths, but you can never understand what was going on behind closed doors. And though I might not know their exact struggles, I do believe I have an idea of how being in the spotlight can warp your sense of reality.”
“I struggled with all of my relationships, alcohol usage, and career path for ten years before going back to school and re-centering myself,” she continued, noting that she “began to flirt with other methods of self-destruction,” including self-harm.
Romano said at the time that she hadn’t consumed alcohol since her first pregnancy, which she announced in 2016. “[I] am going to continue to abstain from alcohol so that I can continue to make clear-headed decisions that keep me on the right path,” she wrote. “All that matters now is my amazing family. When I look back, I can see that it’s all I ever wanted.”
Romano has been married to Rooney since 2013. The couple shares daughters Isabella Victoria, 4, and Sophia Elizabeth, 2.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Romano and her family relocated from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas. “I don’t miss California at all,” the actress-turned-YouTuber told PEOPLE in March. “We are so happy here in Austin.”
Check out the video below.
@christycarlsonromano#DeepRealization life hits you hard sometimes…
