Why Kristin Davis sobered up

In one important respect, Kristin Davis is nothing like her fictional alter ego in Sex and the City, says Harvey Marcus in British Marie Claire. In the show and movie sequel, Davis’ character, Charlotte, delights in knocking back cosmopolitans by the pitcherful with her girlfriends. But Davis, 43, doesn’t touch the stuff—anymore. “I’m a recovering alcoholic,” she says. Davis first began drinking when she was a teenager in South Carolina. Her parents had divorced when she was little, and she was awkward and insecure. “I’m kind of shy normally, so I felt like I needed help. One thing led to another and I was drinking.” Soon enough, her grades began to plummet. She desperately wanted to be an actress, but after she started showing up to her acting classes badly hung over, she realized she had to choose between her passion and her addiction: “I thought, It’s going to be one or the other. I can’t really have both.” After a stint in rehab, Davis quit, and she has been sober for more than 20 years. Still, she feels a relapse can occur anytime. “Sure, sometimes I miss it,” she says. “Every once in a while, I’ll be with friends and they’ll be drinking red wine and I’ll think, in a really innocent way, Oh wow, that’s such a wonderful glass of red wine. Wouldn’t it be fun to drink it? Maybe it would be fine, but it’s really not worth the risk.”