Elle Macpherson Says She Once Drank Vodka from Shattered Bottle as She Reveals Past Struggles with Alcohol and Bulimia

Mar. 15, 2025

Elle Macpherson attends the Harper’s Bazaar Women Of The Year Awards 2023 at Cines Callao on November 15, 2023 in Madrid, Spain.Photo:Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty

Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty

Elle Macphersonis speaking candidly about her past addiction to alcohol.

In her new bookLife, Lessons & Learning to Trust Yourself,released Tuesday, Nov. 19, the 60-year-old Australian supermodel detailed how her life looked perfect from the outside, and that very few knew of her inner struggles.

“My life looked amazing to everybody. On the outside I was doing a beautiful job but, deep down inside, I was really struggling,” she wrote,per Page Six.

In 2003, Macpherson gave birth to her son Cy with then-partner, French financier Arpad “Arki” Busson. They also share another son, Flynn, whom they welcomed in 1998.

After Cy was born, Macpherson was gifted a bottle of champagne. Her naturopaths advised her against indulging in the bubbly drink soon after birth, as her hormones would “be all over the place.” Despite the warning, she said, “All I could think about was that bottle of champagne in the ice bucket” while holding her newborn in her arms.

Elle Macpherson attends the Christian Dior Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on September 26, 2023 in Paris, France.Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

Macpherson experienced anxiety due to Flynn’s frequent hospital visits and Arki’s frequent travels.

“In the evenings, after I put him to bed, I’d find myself relaxing with a vodka,” she wrote, detailing a revelation made in an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting.

Macpherson considered going to rehab following the 2000 Olympics in Sydney when she was supposed to take part in the closing ceremony but she “drunk enough champagne or vodka to calm my nerves that it had disoriented me.”

Arki also discouraged Macpherson from going to rehab, she writes. “I think he was afraid. He didn’t want me to be away from him and I think he was also afraid of change.”

As Macpherson puts it, she was in a “horrible downward spiral” trying to balance her relationship, motherhood, and work.

Elle Macpherson attends the AO Inspirational Series lunch to celebrate women’s semifinal day at the Australian Open on January 25, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia.James D. Morgan/Getty

James D. Morgan/Getty

During an AA meeting, Macpherson said she had several blackouts from constantly drinking at home after putting her children to sleep.

Macpherson reached her breaking point when she tried opening a bottle of vodka and smashed the glass top off. “I hurriedly poured myself a shot that could have been littered with shards of glass. And I drank it,” she later recalled in AA. “I remember thinking, I love this feeling. I’d missed it, sooooo much.”In addition to discussing her relationship with alcohol, Macpherson also detailed herbreast cancer diagnosisand her decision to forego chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.

“Every day I actively, deliberately feed my wellness and nurture myself,” she writes in her book. “Cancer is not an option for me anymore. Like drinking is not an answer for me.”

Elle: Lessons & Learning to Trust Yourselfis available for purchase now.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

source: people.com