Charlie Sheen has been one of the most outspoken celebrities about his relationship with Alcoholics Anonymous and sobriety.

From his infamous “winning” era in 2011 to creating his own Sober Valley Lodge, to now approaching 8 years sober, Charlie has been refreshingly candid about what worked—and what didn’t—for him.

In this video, we react to Charlie Sheen’s recent appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, dive into his brand-new book The Book of Sheen (2025), and unpack his raw thoughts on AA, interventions, sponsorship, and making the decision to quit drinking on his own terms.

2011 Charlie Sheen Interview

Joe Rogan Podcast with Charlie Sheen

The Book of Sheen

Timestamps:

00:00 How Charlie Sheen Got Sober Intro

01:37 Charlie Sheen on Joe Rogan Podcast

05:26 Charlie Sheen's Intervention

07:33 How Charlie Sheen Got Sober (this time)

14:32 Making A Decision + Sticking To It

18:21 Charlie Sheen On AA's Indoctrination Process

24:51 Charlie Sheen Got Sober On His Own

🪩 Get fee tools, community, Zooms and book club to deprogram 12-step ideology 📚

👉 Inside the Deprogram Lounge click here.

💬 Let’s Connect @SobrietyBestie

DM me or comment on any Sobriety Bestie socials. I’m here for the conversation.

Let’s get f*cking free.

Alan Carr flips the script on alcohol. Instead of using willpower to fight cravings, he shows how to remove the desire to drink altogether. 🎉

In this episode, I review Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Quit Drinking Without Willpower and share how the method connected with my own journey—both quitting cigarettes and alcohol.

Whether you’re looking for an AA alternative, rethinking your relationship with alcohol, or just curious about habit change, this perspective shift might blow your mind.

Get the book here.

Timestamps:

00:00 Allen Carr's Easy Way to Quit Drinking Intro

02:35 How I Quit Smoking Cigarettes

09:07 All Brains Can Become Addicted

10:46 Brainwashed Quitting is Hard

13:46 Brainwashed into Drinking Trap

15:45 Little Monster (Withdrawal) + Big Monster (Desire to Drink)

21:08 New Attitude on Sobriety

23:07 Addictive Personality Mythology

27:01 Alcohol Does Not Cause Pleasure

29:56 Don't Drink Poison Ever

🪩 Get fee tools, community, Zooms and book club to deprogram 12-step ideology 📚

👉 Inside the Deprogram Lounge click here.

💬 Let’s Connect @SobrietyBestie

DM me or comment on any Sobriety Bestie socials. I’m here for the conversation.

Let’s get f*cking free.

Bobby C from Anonymous Addiction Podcast spent 35 years inside Alcoholics Anonymous — but he was never fully at peace with the ideology. Trapped by cognitive dissonance, he questioned the slogans, the control structures, and the religious roots even while he kept showing up.

In this conversation, Bobby shares how he saw “cults within the cult,” why the chips and steps never sat right, and how he finally shifted into true freedom outside the 12-step frame.

Bobby C's YouTube

Bobby C's Facebook Group

Bobby C's TikTok

Timestamps:

00:00 — Intro Bobby C Deprogramming While In AA

02:05 — Joining AA + First Sponsor

08:29 — In Alcoholics Anonymous 35 Years

10:08 — Control structure: Steps, Traditions, Concepts, Trustees

14:36 — Roots in religion: Oxford Group, Sister Ignatia, priests

18:14 — Labels, DSM skepticism, and “dis-ease”

23:14 — Culture & media: why AA dominates screen time

39:30 — Paradigm shift away from 12-step + leaving timeline

50:45 — Becoming a SMART Recovery facilitator

56:05 — Boundaries, in-person community, and the “becoming” lens

1:11:10 — How Bobby C and Sobriety Bestie "met"

🪩 Get fee tools, community, Zooms and book club to deprogram 12-step ideology 📚

👉 Inside the Deprogram Lounge click here.

💬 Let’s Connect @SobrietyBestie

DM me or comment on any Sobriety Bestie socials. I’m here for the conversation.

Let’s get f*cking free.

AA loves to say “Your best thinking got you here.”

But when I arrived at AA, I was in survival mode with my worst thinking—traumatized, anxious, medicated, and terrified. To call that my “best” is pure doublespeak.

In this episode, I break down why this phrase is manipulative, how it positions members to distrust their own thoughts, and how Bill Wilson’s best thinking (propaganda, PR, Oxford Group ideology) is what actually got me to AA.

We’ll unpack:

• Why “best thinking” is not survival mode.
• How AA reframes your worst mental state as your “best” to enforce obedience.
• The propaganda that made AA seem like the only path.
• What “best thinking” actually means (from a neuroscience perspective).
• Why leaving AA required my true best thinking.

Timestamps:

00:00 Your Best Thinking Got You Here Intro

01:48 My Worst Thinking Got Me To AA

06:49 Survival Thinking vs Best Thinking

09:42 Bill Wilson’s Best Thinking + AA Propaganda

13:12 What My Best Thinking Looks Like

15:02 Invitation to the Deprogram Lounge

🪩 Get fee tools, community, Zooms and book club to deprogram 12-step ideology 📚

👉 Inside the Deprogram Lounge click here.

💬 Let’s Connect @SobrietyBestie

DM me or comment on any Sobriety Bestie socials. I’m here for the conversation.

Let’s get f*cking free.

A random AA stranger tried to convince me that I’m powerless—that I can’t even know if I’ll drink tomorrow.

He compared my choices to predicting the lottery. 🤦‍♀️

This episode breaks down the logical fallacies and culty ideology behind the powerless narrative AA keeps pushing. Of course I have no clue what YOU should or will do. But I do know I'm not drinking tomorrow.

We’re powerful. We can change habits, rewire our brains, and decide our own future.

Anyone trying to convince you otherwise? 🚩 That’s control, not truth.

🪩 Get fee tools, community, Zooms and book club to deprogram 12-step ideology 📚

👉 Inside the Deprogram Lounge click here.

💬 Let’s Connect @SobrietyBestie

DM me or comment on any Sobriety Bestie socials. I’m here for the conversation.

Let’s get f*cking free.

Welcome back to our Big Book Deconstruction series. In this episode, Kirsten and Carrie (Carrie’s Substack here) unpack The Doctor’s Opinion — the chapter that AA uses as its "medical" foundation.

We explore how Dr. Silkworth’s unproven ideas about a “fatal progressive disease” became the sales pitch that trapped millions into a lifetime of dependence.

🕒 Timestamps

00:00 – Deconstructing The Doctor's Opinion Intro

01:23 – Dr. Silkworth Traps + Converts Us

04:08 – Lies AA Coerced Us Into Believing

08:25 – Bill + Dr. Silkworth Fall Off The Pedestal

15:56 – We Need A New "Marty Mann"

22:44 – Predators in Alcoholics Anonymous

29:34 – AA Opinions Are Not Facts

34:29 – Deconstructing The Doctor's Opinion

40:17 – Bill Becoming A Millionaire

47:31 – Deconstructing Dr. Silkworth's Letter

57:15 – Body + Mind "Abnormal" Mythology

01:08:23 – The "Allergy" Manipulation

01:13:31 – Toxicity + Learned Helplessness in AA

01:19:39 – Bill's Best Thinking Got Us To AA

01:29:22 – Breaking AA's Global Indoctrination

🪩 Get fee tools, community, Zooms and book club to deprogram 12-step ideology 📚

👉 Inside the Deprogram Lounge click here.

💬 Let’s Connect @SobrietyBestie

DM me or comment on any Sobriety Bestie socials. I’m here for the conversation.

Let’s get f*cking free.

In this episode of the Sobriety Bestie Podcast, we’re breaking down the most common forms of abuse and mistreatment in Alcoholics Anonymous—from being told you have a “progressive, fatal disease,” to being convinced you’re powerless, to the gaslighting baked into terms like “dry drunk” or “denial.”

These points come from Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey, written 30 years ago but still just as relevant today. We’ll unpack the first 10 examples from the book and talk about how AA’s harmful messaging keeps people stuck in fear, shame, and learned helplessness.

This conversation is about more than deconstructing AA—it’s about critical thinking, self-trust, and freedom.

Rational Recovery book: https://amzn.to/47AyGlh

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro Common Abuse in AA

02:22 1 — "Fatal progressive disease"

04:41 2 — "Can't abstain on your own"

05:21 3 — "AA is the only way"

06:31 4 — "AA is not religious"

07:22 5 — "Must surrender to AA ideology"

08:58 6 — "You'll relapse without AA"

09:18 7 — "Dry drunk"

11:34 8 — "Alcoholism symptoms"

12:30 9 — "Leaving AA means you'll relapse"

14:25 — 10 "Doubting AA means is a symptom"

16:12 We save ourselves

🪩 Get fee tools, community, Zooms and book club to deprogram 12-step ideology 📚

👉 Inside the Deprogram Lounge click here.

💬 Let’s Connect @SobrietyBestie

DM me or comment on any Sobriety Bestie socials. I’m here for the conversation.

Let’s get f*cking free.

In this #CultyComments episode, we’re breaking down two of AA’s most common contradictions:

👉 “AA has no leaders.” Really? Sponsors, old-timers, secretaries, and even professional recruiters all lead — they just hide it behind the doublespeak of “trusted servants.”

👉 “You can leave anytime.” On the surface, yes. But the ideology repeats that leaving = relapse, jails, institutions, or death. That’s phobia indoctrination, and it keeps people trapped even when they want out.

This isn’t about shaming one person. It’s about exposing how AA’s own language and thought reform tactics convince members they’re free, while quietly controlling their choices.

✨ In this video, I unpack:

• The doublespeak of “trusted servants”
• Why AA says you can leave while planting fear of leaving
• How recruitment gets disguised as “suggestion” or care
• What cult recovery teaches us about breaking free

Any group that tells you you’ll die if you leave? 🚩 Run for the hills.

🪩 Get fee tools, community, Zooms and book club to deprogram 12-step ideology 📚

👉 Inside the Deprogram Lounge click here.

💬 Let’s Connect @SobrietyBestie

DM me or comment on any Sobriety Bestie socials. I’m here for the conversation.

Let’s get f*cking free.