The Zac Clark Show - Ingrid Andress Goes To Rehab, Zac Responds To Viral Backlash, And Why Rehab Is Fun – And Needs To Be

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

Motivated by a viral storm of comments surrounding Ingrid Andress’s controversial performance of the national anthem at MLB’s All-Star Break, Zac jumps back on to set the record straight. He shares his perspective on why Ingrid’s brutally honest public admission was both raw and courageous, and opens up about his own personal experience with rehab. Zac also digs into what the avalanche of negative comments reveals about widespread misconceptions regarding rehab and why this moment is an opportunity to change the narrative and encourage people to seek help. And by the way… rehab IS fun, and it needs to be to work.

All right, welcome to an emergency rendition of the Zach Clark show. It's not actually an emergency, but I wanted to hop on because there's been some developments over the past 24 hours that I wanted to kind of talk about and address. It's very pertinent to a lot of the things that we talk about here. So two nights ago was the MLB All-Star game. Prior to that All-Star game, Ingrid Andrus, who's a four-time. a Grammy-nominated musician was given the opportunity to sing the national anthem, and she butchered it.

I mean, if you have any presence on social media or you are anywhere in the world, you saw memes and jokes and tweets about how poor this performance was, the next day, Ingrid woke up and put out a statement, and that statement basically said, I was hammered last night it's a problem I'm actually going to check myself into a facility

to a program to get the help she needs and at the end she basically said I'll let you all know how rehab is I hear it's pretty fun our esteemed social media team here at the Zach Clark show put together a little reel and

Grace what are we at now So this reel, which we basically have no following on social media yet, got 4.3 million views. And kind of my understanding of social media is when something starts to get attention and energy, it gets more views. The algorithm, right? We all heard about the algorithm. In watching this over the last 24 hours, there's 4.3 million people viewing this real, which is basically her. singing and her statement over it. It's very well done. Shout out Grace Adams. I realize that people are just big mad in the comments. I mean, it's insane. There's probably like, I don't know,

2,000 comments on this post, most of which are upset that she's making fun of rehab. A, and B, yelling and screaming about it being a PR move. So I want to talk about both of those things real quick here. And then ultimately what the most important thing is, which is her asking for help. It's hard enough for a normal person to ask for help. This is a celebrity. Everyone knows her, every move. They know where she is at all times.

So for her to make a very public statement asking for help, I found it to be very courageous. But let's back up. First. And I got DMs from people. and this is just a PR move and this is just of course it's a PR move no shit it's a PR move like she is a public person she needs to have a relationship with the public i fortunately or unfortunately have some experience with this so when something happens like this where she is given this unbelievable opportunity to go on a national stage something she's

worked for her entire life and totally bombs it obviously something is not right. She's clearly a very capable singer. I don't think she's walking out to the All-Star game and purposely, you know, blowing this opportunity. So, of course, it's a PR move. The team probably got together the next morning.

Ingrid, what was that all about? There was probably some tears, maybe a little bit of intervention, and they decided ultimately that she needs a little bit of help. That's incredible. that is incredible the next thing that she has to do because this thing is going crazy in the media and social media it's on every news station about this person ingrid andres who bouchers the national anthem they have to communicate about it and i actually think her

statement was really raw honest courageous and anyone yelling about it just be being a PR move needs to chill out a little bit. It absolutely is a PR move. I think it was a very good PR move. I think it was a very honest PR move. I think what I hear a lot about what I, in my shoes, is that the people want the truth. They want authenticity.

They want to know what's going on. I don't know what is more authentic than this young lady going on to her social channels and being brutally honest about the fact that she was hammered and she's going to rehab. Like, cheers to that. So for people saying it's a PR move, like, of course it is. It's public relations. She's managing her relationship with the public,

who, by the way, were torching her for 24 hours. And in my opinion, someone who is almost 13 years sober has helped a lot of people get sober, refined recovery sent a shitload of people to rehab the number one question i'm i'm asked is like what do i tell people and how i respond to that is it's your story to tell it's your story to tell and in this case ingrid made the decision to let people know she ripped the bandaid off and i'm rooting for her i'm cheering for her and i'm pumped for her because i know that there's hope in this journey and I know

that if she is really surrendered and really willing to find sobriety she's it's not the last we're going to hear of her it's not the last we're going to hear of her I can guarantee that she'll be a better musician and she'll have the last laugh that's a guarantee

the second part that people are just losing their shit over is her poking fun at rehab I think she ends the statement with something along the lines of like I'll let you know how rehab is I hear it's fun I hear it's a great time something along those lines and people people in recovery people not in recovery I mean people are coming out of the woodworks on this post again that we made talking about how disrespectful

it is how how you should never make light of such a serious situation and I have a lot of thoughts here, but the most important thought or the most important thing I think that I want to say is like a lot of those people may or may not be folks that have had family members or loved ones go to treatment and it feels very heavy. So they're coming out of the woodworks and saying like don't make light of this thing. It's very serious. It's very weighty. It's very heavy. But in sobriety, what we are taught is to take the process very seriously, do the work, work on ourselves, try to mend relationships. But don't take ourselves too seriously.

Don't take ourselves too seriously. Like if I, when I walked into rehab, thought it was a death sentence 13 years ago, I might not be sitting here. I had to have a little hope that I might have a little bit of fun. And by the way, as someone here who's a multiple offender in terms of time spent in rehab, it is fun. It is fun.

And it's not something that we should feel bad about, right? Just because it's fun, it doesn't mean that we don't feel bad for our family members that have had to endure our sickness for so many years. It doesn't mean that we're not taking the process seriously. It doesn't mean that we're discrediting all the wreckage that we've created in our lives. But I can tell you this, for sure, for certain. When I went to rehab, I hadn't genuinely laughed. Like, I'm talking belly laughed.

I don't know, five years, seven years prior to that. So for me, it was a lot of fun. And the people that are losing their shit over her thing, I hear it's fun. One, maybe haven't been to rehab or two, you know, are just taking it too seriously, man. Like, let go. It's okay.

It's okay. Like I talk about me and my work and behavioral health care, serious shit all day, every day. I run programs. I watch people get sober. And I got to tell you, one of the things we always talk about is actually making it fun, making this process enjoyable. So for her to say that, I don't even think is a dig. Maybe she has friends that are sober. Maybe she talked to someone before agreeing to go that had a good experience.

had fun in rehab, right? So I just found it very funny that the two things people really focused on in this post and it shows you the power of social media, right, is that one, she shouldn't be poking fun at going to rehab and two, that it's a PR move. When what I saw and what I heard was courage and hope. And someone who wants to leave the darkness and get into the light. Someone who has been living probably a life of lies for a long time and has finally decided to get honest about their alcoholism.

And that, to me, is my main takeaway from Ingrid's Post. And I'm here to tell you, I'm ruined for her. And I'm here to tell you that I'm rooting for anyone today that has the courage to let go and admit themselves into a treatment center. Now, to address in a little more significant way, let's talk about rehab. Let's talk about rehab. There are movies made about rehab. There's a lot of people that have been to rehab. Rehab is this kind of like mythical thing that a lot of people.

on this planet end up doing at some point in their lives right in case you don't know rehab is short for rehabilitation you are going to a place to rehabilitate your entire being forget just your your relationship with drugs and alcohol that's you put that down and then everything else comes the relationships the finances the employment the home life, man, I mean, like, you got to worry about watering your plants, how your plants going to live. So let me tell you about rehab. For me, I think we as a society have an opportunity to shift the narrative around what rehab really is. I think, and I believe that we were, if we were to applaud people, which a lot of people did applaud Ingrid, I will say that there

were people on this post that were very positive and said they were rooting for her. But it was drowned out a little bit by the negativity. I believe that if we applaud people going into rehab, they're going to have a better shot of making it. You know, and if you're a family member or a loved one, if someone's going into treatment, it's okay. I want to give you permission to allow your loved one to have fun, right? I want you to give you permission, right? I want to give you that permission.

but also know that they feel like shit. No matter how much they're laughing, no matter how good the food is, no matter how expensive the rehab they are at is, anyone who is sitting in treatments, myself, I did it. There is an unbelievable amount of guilt and shame and fear and paranoia

that comes when you put the drink the drug down and you have to start to figure things out so what I got from Ingrid saying I hear rehab's fun I can tell you what was fun about rehab for me I had real conversations with men in group and therapy for the first time in a really long time that was fun I learned how to connect with other human beings in a sober and healthy way that was fun I learned how to sit through a movie without having to go outside and smoke a joint or take a piss break to go do a line of Coke or whatever it was, laugh and go to bed

afterwards. That was fun. I learned to play games. I learned to care about the food that I was putting in my body. There was a lot of fun that happened in rehab. A typical day in rehab is you wake up, there's a little morning kind of check in, you go to the dining room and you have a meal together so you're learning to eat with other people and your manners are coming back. You finish that meal. There's probably a couple groups in the morning focused on, you know, the harm you've caused, processing some of your behaviors. It's hard. There's tears.

The Kleenex are all over the place. There's a lot of work done in that therapy. Then there's a break in the middle of the day where you have some more food. After lunch, there's probably a smoke break and you're out of the butthut and people that didn't even smoke before getting to rehab or ripping Sigs.

And you're joking, you're laughing. You're having some fun. That relief is actually key. to the experience because it gives a little bit of hope, a little bit of belief that like, hey, if I stay sober, I can actually still laugh. I can actually still have relationships. I can actually still meet people.

All the shit that they told me or that I thought before I came to rehab might not be true. Then in the afternoon, there's some more process groups. There's probably some ability to work out. You're back in the gym for a long time. You know, you're starting to care what you look like after letting yourself go for 10, 15, 20 years, whatever it is.

These things all, to me, were fun. And to a lot of other people, I believe, that have gotten sober, those things are fun. So both things can be true, right? That's my message here today. Both things can be true. Rehab can absolutely be fun. That doesn't mean they're not taking it seriously. That doesn't mean they're mocking the process.

It doesn't mean that they, and some people might. fuck if I know but for the most part right rehab is also hard work it's emotional it's trying you feel things that you haven't felt in many many many years you carry a tremendous amount of guilt and shame no matter how old you are ending up in rehab was not something you probably had on the bingo card at 12 years old And so, like, let's just take it easy. Let's just take it easy. Let's let this beautiful statement that Ingrid put out live and breathe in the way that it's supposed to.

And remember that the person writing that or agreeing to send that out there, because in public relations, the person has the last. day is the client is the person is probably one day sober or 12 hours sober so like a little compassion a little grace a little bit of understanding goes a long way and if we let that statement breathe in a way and live in a way that it's supposed to I think we could actually find a lot of hope and joy in it like what I read was here's a girl who made the biggest mistake of her life, outwardly, butchered the national anthem, woke up the next morning, was probably extremely hungover, started to doomscroll and see all the things that were being said about

her, woke up to the fact that her drinking was probably a problem, probably affecting her. The person she saw on those videos was not the person who she knew herself to be, was not the musician that she had worked so hard to become. Her team then got. together made this decision put this statement out there where she acknowledges the problem apologizes to major league baseball amongst others and then puts in a little joke and says I'll let you guys all know how rehab is I hear it's fun she's probably two days into her rehab stay right now and I can guarantee you that her energy is probably not like oh this is a great time like I'm so happy this happened I can

guarantee you that and so if we're focusing on these little things or trying to poke holes and statements you can be my guest I was I was ready to go gloves on in the comment section last night and I just said you know what like there's an easier way to kind of do this and an easier way to talk about this and at the end of the day like any post any statement anything that's put out there we can poke holes in we can poke holes in i'm sure she's got a very talented public relations team i'm sure she's got some pretty smart people in her court ultimately she is her brand and this is what she chose to do and i support it and i encourage it and for the last time to say i'm going to say i'm rooting

for her so that's my rant on this little viral moment that was very applicable to the Zach Clark's show. I'm going to end there. And I hope that, you know, I welcome the comments. I welcome the back and forth. I also think I'm right. So let's all have a good day. And I appreciate you guys listening.