On April 30th ABC co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas interviewed four women struggling with alcohol in a one hour report “Mother’s Little Helper”.

Remember the song “Mother’s Little Helper” written in 1966 by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard from the Rolling Stones?  The message is about drugs, and the lyrics went like this:    I hear every mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
She goes running for the shelter for her mother’s little helper.  And it helps her on her way to get her through her busy day.  You can tranquilise your mind.  And to help you through the night to minimize your plight

The four women interviewed by Elizabeth Vargas made statements similar to the lyrics of “Mother’s Little Helper”.  The only difference is that the song is referring to drugs and not alcohol which each women used to tranquilise their minds to minimize their plight.

The four women came from various parts of the United States;  Stephanie a mother of three from California, Mary who is celebrating 20 years of recovery, Tina a mother of two, and Lynn a fifty year old mother from Mississippi.  Each woman has her story and disclosed her everyday rituals from park social hours after school to drinking at 9:30 in the morning.  They hid their bottles of alcohol, pouring it into coffee mugs while driving their children to school, play dates, parks, and other activities under the influence of alcohol.

Tina is a mother of two children from Washington, D.C. who transitioned from a political career to a stay at home mom.  She did not realize how much self-esteem and self-worth came from her job.  Tina has difficulty in admitting she put her daughter in danger when she was under the influence of alcohol while driving.  It was not until friends of Tina addressed her alcoholism that she received help.

Tina’s friends said it became apparent that Tina needed help.  Tina would show up to functions inebriated, and her behavior and mannerism changed.  Tina’s friends organized an intervention telling her of their own experiences with Tina’s alcohol consumption.  At the end of intervention friends sent her off, with her packed bags, to a detox and rehabilitation program in Florida.  

Mary who is celebrating her 20 years of sobriety and was a teacher at Harvard when her life spiraled into alcoholism.  She remembers one Christmas morning she was to bake pies with the family and she choose to take a drive and consume a six pack of beer alone.  Mary wrote a book “Lit” describing her bout with alcoholism and how she hid her alcoholism so well for so long from her husband, family and friends.  

Mary states to Elizabeth Vargas that, “I didn’t look like somebody sleeping under a bridge.  But I had this black hole in the center of me that I was pouring alcohol into.  There are a lot of women who think, ‘My drinking is just not that bad.’  Feeling like every day is a nightmare that you have to trudge through is a consequence enough.  You don’t need a DWI, you don’t need to go to jail, you don’t need to loose your kids.  It’s enough that the highlights of your day is sitting alone drinking.” 

Stephanie is a mother from California, a comedian who joked about drinking at play dates with children and other mothers.  Even her husband was in denial of her drinking and stated she didn’t fit the mold of what he thought an alcoholic was.  Stephanie lied to herself for so long until one day she went on her computer and admitted to her fans she had a drinking problem.  She was so scared she would be rejected by her fans, and the opposite happened with letters of support and thanking her for her honesty.

Lynn is a fifty year old mother and wife with over 20 years of alcoholism.  She lives in Mississippi with her adolescent children and husband. Her children have pleaded with her to get some help and are at their last straw.  Cameras followed Lynn into her first five days of detox and 30 days of alcohol rehabilitation.  The cameras capture the intensity of Lynn’s intoxication before she is admitted to a Florida program.

“Mother’s Little Helper” interview reveals the women’s shameful experiences with their alcohol episodes, daily rituals, and how they endangered their children’s lives.  One woman states while driving the streets she would be dumping her empty bottles along the side of the road.  Another describes hiding bottles of alcohol in closets, cupboards, shoes, and trash cans.  Their ritual for buying the alcohol would be to make trips to various liquor stores so as not to be found out.  They did not want others to know or see them drinking so they would drive around with the children drinking alcohol in their coffee mugs.

The last lyric in the song “Mothers Little Helper” is -

                               No more running for the shelter of a mother’s little helper

                               They just helped you on your way through your busy dying day    

As these four women struggled in their daily lifestyle of alcoholism they came to the decision to find their way to sobriety.  They too were on their way through their busy dying day.   It was not until after 6 tries in recovery that Mary reached her twenty years of sobriety.  Tina went back to drinking after completing the thirty day rehabilitation program and now looking for an outpatient program.  Lynn is doing well and just received her four month chip of sobriety.  Stephanie is doing well in her recovery.

Elizabeth Vargas reported after the one hour show “Mother’s Little Helper”, there was an overwhelming response to the show.  Many viewers contacted the rehabilitation programs in Florida for help and information for themselves or a loved one.  If you or someone you know has a problem with alcohol, click on one of the drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers on this page.  You don’t have to repeat the cycle of alcoholism.