Julia Rangiheuea has revealed harrowing details about her struggles with drug and alcohol addiction.
The former Big Brother Australia star, 31, has opened up about her years-long battle with addiction which first started when she was a young teenager.
In a candid new interview, Julia recalled how she first started drinking when she was around 14 years old in year nine and by the next year, had started taking ecstasy.
After moving to Sydney from Perth aged 20, Julia then began using cocaine and she recalled how she wasted huge amounts of money on drugs and alcohol in the years following.
Last year, Julia then decided to give up alcohol and is now gearing up to mark one-year of sobriety in an impressive achievement.
Of her decision to stop drinking, she told Perth Now: ‘I just said, my whole personality is based around alcohol.
‘I don’t know who I am without alcohol, I’m going to give up alcohol for one year.’
Julia Rangiheuea has revealed harrowing details about her struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, which started when she was just a teenager
In a candid new interview, Julia recalled how she first started drinking when she was around 14 years old in year nine and by the next year, had started taking ecstasy
Julia went on to reflect back on her years of excessive partying in her 20s and said she wasted huge amounts of money on alcohol and recreational drugs.
‘I had no idea what I was doing, and any invitation to socialise was always based around drinking,’ she said.
‘Let’s say I got paid $1000 a week. So it’s like $400 a week for rent, and then straight away, I’d take away $200 for alcohol.
‘And then I’d think, Susie’s birthday is coming up. I need to get a bag [of cocaine] for that.’
After going sober last year, Julia now has 45.2K followers on her Recovering Party Girl TikTok account, where she shares stories of her addiction and sobriety.
In October, she also started hosting the Soberly Speaking podcast, where ordinary people can share their own experiences with addiction.
The podcast is focused on stories of recovery and sees participants talk about their paths to sobriety.
Julia, who rose to fame when she entered the Big Brother house as an ‘intruder’ in 2022, has previously spoke about how she was known as a ‘party animal’ growing up in Perth.
After becoming known as the ‘party animal’, Julia decided to give up alcohol and is now gearing up to mark one-year of sobriety in an impressive achievement
‘I’ve always been known as the party animal and the bender queen,’ she said in an interview last year.
‘I was celebrated for these qualities, it became my entire personality. I’d even have strangers come up to me and say ‘I heard you’re a great time on the p**s’.
Describing Perth as a ‘coastal party town’ she said drinking was just part of the culture while she growing up there.
She said the lifestyle ‘normalised’ heavy drinking, including partying mid-week followed by ‘drinking all weekend’.
Julia said her alcohol consumption routinely consisted of downing up to two jugs of cider over dinner on a weeknight.
Drinking to excess then led the social media star into a period of intense anxiety after suffering frequent hangovers.
She would spend entire days in bed trying to recover from excessive partying.
After giving up alcohol in January 2023, Julia said sobriety has been a massive challenge, but giving up booze has made her happy.
