Dean McDermott celebrated a monumental accomplishment last week – one year of sobriety.
The actor, 57, marked the achievement on Instagram with a photo of what appeared to be his sobriety chips, a drawing honoring the accomplishment, and a sweet card.
In the caption, he thanked his treatment center for ‘saving my life’ and assured those battling addiction that a ‘beautiful life awaits’ once recovery is sought.
‘Last week was an incredible week of love, hugs and recovery. Thank you to my Sponsor, my Sponsee Brothers and everyone in the fellowship for celebrating my 1 year birthday,’ Dean – who is now a drug and alcohol counselor – wrote in the caption.
‘A special thanks to @_harmonyplace J,D and H for saving my life. If you’re struggling with addiction, just surrender and ask for help. We’re here waiting for you, to love you, until you love yourself. A beautiful life awaits you. Just reach out your hand. #recovery #change.’
Dean McDermott celebrated a monumental accomplishment last week – one year of sobriety
McDermott, pictured with estranged wife Tori Spelling, marked the achievement on Instagram
It comes several months after McDermott revealed he had become a drug and alcohol counselor.
McDermott discussed how his journey to sobriety and living in a sober facility have helped him turn his life around in an interview with Page Six.
‘I am clean and sober … I got to a place where I finally surrendered and admitted that I needed help,’ he told the publication.
‘The way I was running my life, the way I was running the show was not right. Not, good for anybody — myself, my family and Tori. It was a horrible way to live. So I finally surrendered and asked for help, and I got it.’
McDermott also gushed over his new girlfriend Lily Calo, 32 — whom he’s been linked to since October 2023 — for being a great support system. He praised his ex Tori, 51, as well, calling his estranged wife his ‘biggest supporter.’
The couple — who split in 2023 and are now in the process of divorcing — share children Liam, 17, Beau, 7, Finn, 11, Hattie, 12, and Stella, 16.
In November of last year McDermott told DailyMail.com in a world exclusive interview how their marriage imploded as the couple grew apart – their problems made worse by his addiction to booze and prescription drugs.
‘All Tori’s ever done to this day is want me to be happy and healthy and I inflicted a lot of damage and pain on that woman,’ he told DailyMail.com.
McDermott is now in a new romantic relationship following his split from Spelling – he is dating Lily Calo
By the time he hit rock bottom, Dean says the duo were living like ‘roommates’ and plagued by money worries and paparazzi while he was deeply depressed, mainlining tequila and drugs alone each night and flying into alcohol-fueled rages that ‘petrified’ his wife and children.
He told how he would pass out, leaving a worried Tori frantically checking on him to make sure he was still alive.
Dean said: ‘Alcohol made me feel good enough. I started feeling good enough until it got to a point where it didn’t – it ended up in isolation.
‘It ended up with me drinking a fifth of tequila every night, seven days a week, and a handful of narcos [prescription meds] by myself with a beautiful family in the other room.
In November of last year McDermott told DailyMail.com in a world exclusive interview how his marriage with Tori imploded as they grew apart – their problems made worse by his addiction to booze and prescription drugs; pictured 2018
‘That’s what it led to and that’s what led to the brokenness and to what happened between me and Tori.
‘I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t live that life anymore. I was tired of the anger and the yelling.’
Despite that and his new relationship with Texan Lily, Dean says he still loves Tori and has no regrets about their life together.
Tori filed for divorce from Dean following a 10 month separation and 18 year marriage back in March.
Spelling lists the date of their separation as June 17, 2023 and cites irreconcilable differences as the reason for the divorce.
McDermott with his now estranged wife Tori back in 2018
She requested sole physical custody of their five minor children while also asking for joint legal custody.
Weeks later, McDermott responded by requesting joint physical and legal custody, as per Page Six, on their children.
Dean also sought spousal support for himself while petitioning the court to end Tori’s spousal support, mirroring her initial request.
Despite the legal back-and-forth, McDermott recently praised Tori as a ‘highly evolved’ and ‘loving person’ as he defended her from a troll on Instagram.
The actor went Instagram official with his new girlfriend Lil in May and Tori showed her support by ‘liking’ the post.
One commenter thought Tori’s support was ‘mind boggling,’ to which Dean replied: ‘It’s because she is a highly evolved and compassionate, loving person, which is a lot more [than] I can say for the trolls commenting on this post.’
He also confirmed that Tori is in a new relationship herself but he did not say with whom.
‘Tori has a boyfriend. People get divorced and are better apart [than] together. That’s life. I’ll pray for happiness for all the haters,’ he concluded.
