William Cope Moyers and Addiction

Tomorrow (Thursday January 10th) we'll be joined by William Moyers at 8:10am. He's the son of veteran journalist Bill Moyers and vice president of external affairs for Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. We'll open up the phone lines for your comments or questions, 218-326-1234. You can also email us your thoughts.

We'll talk with William about his book "Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption". It's a gripping, honest account of how a kid who has everything can end up jeopardizing his family, his career and his life with drugs and alcohol.

For the past decade, William has committed himself to helping people, families and communities understand the power of addiction and the promise and possibility of recovery. Moyers uses his own personal experiences to carry the message to policy makers, civic groups, churches and schools across America.

Here's an excerpt of "Broken"

“My shame and my drug use ran along parallel lines until they eventually merged and became one. I drank because I was ashamed, and I was ashamed because I drank. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I’m not sure I will ever know the answer to that question, but at some point “want” became “need” and I drank and used not to feel better but to feel normal. It wasn’t just about lack of self-esteem, childhood trauma, right and wrong, or making good choices -- something deeper and more insidious than feeling bad about myself was going on. I needed to get high and that need became so deep and strong that I was powerless before it. When want became need – and, truthfully, that transformation is only clear to me in retrospect -- the nature of my problem changed from using too much and too often to not being able to stop using. From the outside, I still looked like a healthy, balanced, ethical young man. On the inside, however, I was raging against everything and everyone, especially myself. I didn’t understand what was happening to me and because no one else could see it or name it for what it was, I was left alone with my tormented self. All my energy became focused on one goal – to keep the inside from showing on the outside, to hide the truth of my misery and my shame from others and even from myself.”
From Chapter 5, “Free Fall”

Moyers joined Hazelden in 1996 after a 15-year career in journalism. He also served as president of the Johnson Institute Foundation in 2000-2002.
Moyers lives with his wife, Allison and their three children, Henry, Thomas and Nancy, in St. Paul, Minnesota.