BAELIE Pierce was just 13 years old when she first started drinking.
But that first sip of alcohol turned out to be a slippery slope and by college, she was drinking daily, often showing up to class drunk.
“I honestly don’t know how my professors didn’t notice,” says Baelie, 25, from Utah.
“I’d drink before class, during breaks, and all night.”
Baelie’s drinking got so bad that she missed her board exam because she was too intoxicated.
After graduating, she drank constantly, starting with a White Claw the moment she woke up and continuing throughout the day until she passed out.
She’d visit the liquor store twice a day for 12-packs and regularly woke up in strangers’ hotel rooms.
“I cheated on my boyfriend of six years while blackout drunk,” she confesses.
“It’s something I’ve never admitted before, but I take full responsibility.”
As her addiction worsened, she started calling her family in tears.
“One day, I cried so much my eyes were swollen shut,” she recalls.
“My sisters finally realised something was seriously wrong.”
Her family moved her back home, but the darkness didn’t lift.
“I lived on the top floor of my apartment and it took everything in me not to jump off my balcony,” she says.
“I seriously just wanted to end it all.”
One day, after a wild weekend, Baelie made a terrifying decision.
She got in her car, took off her seatbelt and floored it at 80mph, intending to crash.
Miraculously, she survived.
She was taken to the hospital where she worked registered respiratory therapist.
“It was a humiliating experience”, she says.
“My co-workers knew I was drunk, they knew my blood alcohol level.
“I was so lucky I didn’t get a DUI, that would have ruined my life.”
Too drunk to be discharged, Baelie was kept overnight but that night marked the start of her recovery.
A nurse gave her rehab resources, and she was transferred five hours away to a psychiatric facility for five days.
Back home, she tried to stay sober, but it wasn’t for her, it was for her family.
She managed a month, before she started drinking again.
“It wasn’t a proper relapse because I’d never committed to quitting,” she says.
In October, she was drinking again at a Halloween party.
She didn’t enter rehab until the following April, after another close call.
“I tried to drive to a gas station to dump my alcohol before my parents came home,” she says.
“I was drunk, luckily, my dad stopped me.”
Her mum called her therapist, who asked Baelie to bring her to the next session.
“I knew she was going to say it was time for rehab, and she did,” she says.
At just 23, Baelie broke down.
“I never thought I’d end up in rehab,” she says.
“But I was hurting everyone around me, and I could have killed someone.”
She entered rehab on April 29, 2024, and stayed for 47 days.
“I even spent my 24th birthday there, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Baelie says.
Since then, she’s transformed her life.
What to do if you think are an alcoholic
IF you’re struggling with alcohol addiction, the most important thing is to recognise the problem and seek support – You don’t have to face it alone.
Seek Professional Help
- GP or Doctor – A medical professional can assess your situation and provide advice on treatment options.
- Therapists or Counsellors – Talking to an addiction specialist can help address underlying causes and develop coping strategies.
- Rehab or Detox Programmes – If physical dependence is severe, medically supervised detox may be necessary.
Consider Support Groups
- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) – A well-known 12-step programme that provides peer support.
- SMART Recovery – A science-based alternative to AA, focusing on self-empowerment.
- Local Support Groups – Many communities have groups tailored to different needs.
Now, she fills her time with reading, running, and playing with her dog Arlo, and she’s fiercely honest about the ongoing battle.
“Salt Lake City is a big trigger for me,” she says.
“So are liquor stores.
“I still check the time to see if it’s between 11am and 7pm, the hours the shop used to open.
It’s automatic.”
She admits boredom was her biggest trigger.
“My job gives me a week off at a time, and I used to drink through the whole thing,” she says.
Even doing her make-up can bring back cravings.
“I always drank while getting ready,” says Baelie.
“Now, the idea of holding a drink while doing my eyeliner still creeps into my mind.”
Despite the struggles, Baelie has been sober for 450 days and shares her raw recovery journey with her 10,400 TikTok followers.
Her videos, which have racked up over 564,000 likes, lay bare her darkest moments, including blackouts, cheating, driving drunk, and nearly ending her own life.
“I’m an alcoholic, I can’t control my drinking,” Baelie admits in one clip.
“I’ve told myself that so many times and I’m so glad I never took another drink.”
