Elle Macpherson Recalls Drinking Vodka From Shattered Bottle

The model details her struggle with alcohol use in her new memoir.

Elle Macpherson in 2015
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Content warning: alcohol misuse

Elle Macpherson has opened up about her former struggle with alcohol use in a new memoir.

In Elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself, published on Nov. 19, the Australian supermodel details her difficult experiences with drinking. In particular, she describes one incident which illustrates the extent of her struggle.

At one point, Macpherson had decided to go to a rehab center, but wanted to vacation in Ibiza with her family first. She was able to not drink for the first two weeks of the trip, but when she was left alone with her children one night as her partner and friends went out to a nightclub, she felt bad that she couldn't go with them.

After her children went to bed, she took out a bottle of vodka and when she couldn't manage to open it, she ended up smashing part of the bottle to get into it.

"I hurriedly poured myself a shot that could have been littered with shards of glass," Macpherson wrote, as reported by Page Six. "And I drank it. I remember thinking, I love this feeling. I’d missed it, sooooo much."

This was a turning point for the model, who discarded the rest of the bottle after having three shots, and flew back to London, where she was living at the time.

After that, Macpherson entered a rehab facility in Arizona, which helped her to get sober.

"Every day I actively, deliberately feed my wellness and nurture myself," she writes of her life now.

Reflecting on her struggle with alcohol use before she got sober, she says in the book, "My life looked amazing to everybody. On the outside I was doing a beautiful job but, deep down inside, I was really struggling."

Today, healthy and a memoirist, Macpherson appears to be thriving in all areas of her life, including business. She's notably the founder of super successful supplement brand WelleCo, which carries "Proven Elixirs to supercharge your beauty—through-wellness." Love that for her.

If you or someone you know is struggling with alcohol misuse or addiction, please reach out to the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP or browse the organization's resource library.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.