The 49-year-old actor described sobriety as part of a broader effort to feel better and interrupt patterns she saw as self-defeating. Her remarks also arrived as she revisits the comedy franchise that made her famous.
Anna Faris says she stopped drinking alcohol after connecting it with depression and recognizing what she called a pattern of self-sabotage. The 49-year-old Scary Movie actor discussed her sobriety with Chelsea Handler on the Aug. 20, 2026, episode of the Dear Chelsea podcast, explaining why stepping away from alcohol mattered to her now.
Faris did not frame the decision as a universal prescription. She described a personal realization: drinking and depression were linked for her, and sobriety became part of an effort to change how she felt about herself, her work and the career path she once struggled to accept.
Faris linked drinking and depression
During the conversation, Faris said she had found a clear connection between alcohol and her depression. “It turns out there’s a correlation between drinking and depression, for me, for sure,” she said, according to USA TODAY’s account of the episode.
She described the decision in direct terms, saying she needed to take a step back and avoid “self-sabotage.” The wording matters because Faris was not simply talking about changing a social habit; she was discussing how she evaluated alcohol’s effect on her emotional well-being.
Handler, who hosted the conversation, said aging had changed the way she thinks about drinking as well. She suggested that bodies may not process alcohol in the same way over time, a view that provided a broader backdrop to Faris’ more personal account.
A personal story, not medical guidance
Faris’ remarks reflect her own experience, not a diagnosis or a medical recommendation. The relationship between alcohol and mood can vary widely from person to person, and people dealing with depression, alcohol use or major changes in medication should seek advice from a qualified health professional.
That distinction is especially important because the podcast discussion also touched on hormonal changes. Faris said she had recently begun using a hormone patch and felt it had made “a huge difference” for her.
Handler shared her own experience adjusting estrogen treatment during a difficult low period. Neither woman’s account establishes what treatment is appropriate for someone else, but their exchange underscored how often mood, physical changes, sleep, substance use and stress can overlap in people’s attempts to understand how they feel.
Her career was part of the conversation
Faris connected her shift away from alcohol with a changed outlook on her career, particularly her long-running discomfort with being identified primarily as a comedy star. She became widely known as Cindy Campbell in the 2000 spoof Scary Movie, a role that launched one of the defining comedy franchises of that era.
Yet Faris told Handler that comedy had once felt like an “ill-fitting shoe.” She said she had spent years feeling pressure to be grateful for opportunities while also privately wishing her big break had happened differently.
That tension gives her comments more texture than a standard promotional interview. Faris was describing an internal conflict familiar well beyond Hollywood: knowing that an achievement is meaningful while still struggling with the identity it assigns you.
Revisiting comedy with more ease
Faris said her perspective has softened in the past year. She has come to appreciate that people who recognize her often respond with happiness, which helped her see the pleasure her work has brought to audiences.
That reassessment comes as she returns to the world most associated with her. Faris reprises Cindy Campbell in the 2026 Scary Movie reboot alongside original co-star Regina Hall.
She is also appearing in the comedy Spa Weekend, released Aug. 21, with Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher and Michelle Buteau. The timing puts Faris in an unusual position: publicly revisiting an old professional label while explaining why she has been trying to shed older personal patterns.
Why the candor lands differently now
Celebrity discussions of sobriety can easily become simplified into a before-and-after narrative. Faris’ comments were more complicated. She did not present herself as having solved every problem; instead, she described identifying a factor that was making depression worse and choosing to act on it.
There is also a cultural shift behind the exchange. Public conversations about alcohol increasingly include people who are questioning its role in their routines without necessarily using the same labels or following the same path. Faris’ account fits that wider conversation while remaining distinctly her own.
Her candor about hormones, depression and career regret also illustrates the limits of neat explanations. A positive change may involve several decisions at once, and the effect of any one choice can be difficult to separate from the rest of a person’s circumstances.
What Faris has and has not said
Faris has said she is sober and that stopping alcohol followed her recognition that drinking was tied to depression and self-sabotage in her life. She has also said a hormone patch improved how she felt and that she has found greater appreciation for her comedy career.
She did not lay out a detailed timeline for her sobriety or present a broader account of treatment, recovery support or the specific nature of her depression. Those unanswered details make it important not to read more into the podcast remarks than she shared.
The clearest takeaway is Faris’ own: stepping back from alcohol gave her room to confront a pattern she believed was hurting her. At a moment when she is again embracing the work that made her famous, she is also drawing a firmer boundary around what she no longer wants in her life.
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