‘8 Simple Rules’ Actress Is Now Alcohol-Free as She Reveals Her Turning Point

Nearly two years after she started her alcohol-free journey, 8 Simple Rules alum Amy Davidson revealed how a simple conversation with her father changed her.

During a recent interview with PEOPLE, Davidson opened up about how she was initially trying to cut back her alcohol consumption by only drinking on the weekends.

However, her father had a different opinion about how she was handling her drinking woes.

“He goes, ‘So you’re going to be waiting for Friday… or you’re going to find reasons to drink,’” the actress recalled her father asking her during a conversation before Christmas 2024. “I was always making excuses.”

The comment made Davidson ask herself a frustrating question: “Why can’t I just be like everyone else and have a glass of wine randomly now and then?”

“‘Cause you’re wired differently,” her father answered.

As she continued to speak about her drinking woes, Davidson said she didn’t have any symptoms that resembled alcohol addiction.

“I was very put together, I was drinking every night, and I would drink by myself,” she recalled. “I would have two glasses, and then by the time I stopped, I was like, ‘Oh, I could easily polish a bottle by myself.”

Davidson said waking up with a hangover was “normal” for her. Although she acted normally, the actress struggled to keep alcohol in her life.

She finally told her husband she couldn’t do the drinking cycle anymore. In response, he suggested she try a “Dry January” challenge, meaning she wouldn’t drink at all for the month. That’s where her journey started.

However, instead of saying she is sober, Davidson said she is “alcohol-free.” She disclosed that she occasionally has a THC drink.

“That other hold was so crippling,” she said about her alcohol struggles. “And that sounds really dramatic, but it was.”

Davidson is now committed to an alcohol-free lifestyle and is open to having conversations about their struggles. “I’ve just stuck with it, and I’ve been vocal,” she noted. “And I think once you say it, you’re held accountable.”

The actress previously celebrated her 594th day of abstaining from alcohol.

“It’s kind of chic to CHOOSE not to drink on a daily basis,” she wrote in an Instagram post in August. “It’s kind of chic to not wake up hungover. It’s kind of chic to start loving myself in a brand new way. It’s kind of chic to look in the mirror and be proud of myself. It’s kind of chic to be happy. To continue changing my perspective on what happiness means to me.”