“I gave up drink but kept it SECRET”

In 2015, two things happened. After three decades of knocking back Sauvignon Blanc with abandon, I quit drinking in the March. Eight months later, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I found it very easy to talk about the cancer. Yet I told no one that I’d quit drinking. I was far too ashamed. I was scared of being judged, of being labelled an “alcoholic”. I was worried that people would assume I’d been a terrible mother, pouring vodka on my cornflakes and neglecting my three children. You give up smoking and everyone treats you like a hero; quit drinking and you become