Danny O’Donoghue said the script’s sharpest break from his old life came after Christmas in Dublin, when the absence of Mark Sheehan pushed him to stop drinking and taking drugs. He said the decision followed a period in which grief and substance use had started to damage his family and his relationships with other people.
Dublin after Mark Sheehan
O’Donoghue discussed the turning point on the On the Mend podcast with Matt Willis, saying he went back to Ireland for his first Christmas in Dublin without Sheehan two-and-a-half years ago. “So I went back to Ireland, and it was my first time home, being around Christmas in Dublin without Mark. And I was like, I’ve got to do this sober. I can’t face this anymore. I got to do this sober.”
Sheehan had been his friend since they were 13, and his death in 2023 gave the story its emotional weight. O’Donoghue has been open about addiction and depression since then, but this account is more specific: it ties recovery to one night, one flight, and one decision.
The flight back to the UK
O’Donoghue said the resolve did not arrive cleanly. “So I jumped on a plane. And by the time I’d landed, I’d p***ed. And I’d already speed dialed. You know what I mean? I was already like, let’s go, let’s sort it out.”
That contradiction is the point. He wanted to do things sober, but he was already drunk by the time he landed, and that is what turned the moment from intention into a hard stop. “I’m not doing me any favours. I’m not doing his memory any favours. You know, my family, my relationships with people were suffering over my selfishness.”
Cold turkey and what followed
He said he “absolutely cold-turkeyed” that day, giving up “Alcohol, weed, all that stuff.” Since then, he said he has had therapy, found faith, walked daily, attended church, and had regular boxing sessions. Those details matter because they show a recovery routine, not just a single declaration.
The Script is going out on tour this year, with support dates at Slane Castle in July and shows at the 3Arena in Dublin and the SSE Arena in Belfast in October and November this year. O’Donoghue also said he was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was 43, and he is now married to Anais Naing, since last year, which places this recovery chapter beside a very different personal one.
