NEED TO KNOW
Jaimie Alexander is detailing the excruciating health scare that pushed her to get sober.
On Nov. 16, the Blindspot star shared a lengthy blog post to her Substack about her near-death experience in March 2018 while struggling with alcoholism.
The 41-year-old explained that she was the type of alcoholic who would “drink heavily, make terrible decisions, and justify some pretty s— behavior.” However, she didn’t realize she had a problem until she got snowed in while on a trip with a new boyfriend. She called it “the beginning of the end.”
“No booze anywhere. Believe me—I checked every nook and cranny,” she recalled. “I should probably mention that, at this point, I hadn’t gone a single day without a drink in years. Yikes. Panic started creeping in. I didn’t have my flask with me, and honestly, I had no clue how I was going to survive the night sober while pretending everything was fine in front of my new boyfriend. I felt like I was standing at the gates of hell, trying not to sweat.”
Alexander said she returned home the following night and despite only thinking about “pouring bourbon down my throat,” she felt strange and couldn’t even drink alcohol the next couple days.
During that time, she was feeling dizzy, irritable, extremely shaky and unsteady, and found herself eating a lot of sugar. During a workout session, her trainer even pointed out that she didn’t look well and was pale and off balance. She was “unaware that I had become a ticking time bomb.”
Jaimie Alexander/Substack
Alexander was on set for Blindspot when she started experiencing debilitating stomach pain.
“By lunchtime, I could barely stand,” she said. “Soon I was sweating, pale as a ghost, curled up in the fetal position on the floor of my trailer, unable to stand. I reached for my phone and called a producer for help… It was THE WORST pain of my life.”
Alexander was taken to the hospital, where she learned her appendix was rupturing and needed to be removed.
“I had never been so afraid in my life,” she wrote. “I was screaming in pain. At the ER, I was rushed through a CT scan. They told me my appendix had fully ruptured and I was entering sepsis. They stripped me, wiped me down with something orange, and prepped me for emergency surgery. I remembered feeling extremely hot. Like my body was on fire from the inside.”
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The Thor actress explained that before going into surgery, there was a moment she was by herself. She suddenly felt a “warm, powerful sense of peace” come over her and she thought she was dying until she “heard a voice.”
“The voice came from somewhere deep inside me. I could feel it, resonating through every fiber of my being,” she recalled, noting that the voice said to her “you can never drink again” if she wanted to live.
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“A light switched on inside me. PURE CLARITY,” she said. “I promised the voice I would never drink again. And in that moment, I knew I would survive the surgery. I knew everything would be okay. I knew I was safe.”
Alexander said she’s been sober ever since that day: March 6, 2018.
“Looking back, what I thought was bad and the worst thing to ever happen to me ended up being good and the best thing that ever happened to me,” she wrote. “I was given a second chance by something greater than myself, and I chose to take it.”
“It took almost dying for me to wake up and start living,” she added.
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Alexander ended the post by encouraging anyone going through a difficult time to ask for help and to know that they’re not alone.
“Since I’ve been sober, I have managed to take all that pain, all that deep childhood sadness, all that rage, and turn it into a strong cement base beneath my feet — one I stand on, solid and grounded, ready to embrace whatever life throws my way,” she said. “We can do this thing called life—together. One day at a time.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
