Brought Up By Booze (George Best Documentary) | Real Stories 

8.5 years sober. Regret the day I had my first drink. 20 years wasted and the damage is done. At least I stopped before the twins were born - that's what I'm most proud of, not being a drunk dad. Alcohol is not our friend.

give that women a medal she did all the right things and the way she talks so proper

This documentary is powerful. I was touched on so many levels. I'm a recovering alcoholic of two alcoholic parents. My 17 yr old son had a drunk mom for almost 10 years. My parents were drunk until I was almost 30. We've all since found help none of us drink anymore. I worry about my son though. Thank you for being so brave and making this film, Calum.

Calum is a beautiful person inside and out. I'm so glad he's using his experiences to help other children.

Impressed by Calums openness & down to earthness and how real he is. This doc doesn't feel contrived or false in any way.

I commend Calum for his journey of discovery, but, in my mind, his mom is the hero in this story. She had no delusions regarding George and turned her back on his fame and fortune for the good of their son. Well done.

It doesn't help we live in a culture that applauds heavy drinking. It's expected in college, sporting events, St Patrick's Day, New Years....

So happy I got sober when my daughter was six. I’ve had a couple of relapses but I’ve been able to get back on my feet pretty quickly.

I really wish him the very best. I love the way he's trying to think through all these complicated emotions and memories, and how he's willing to share his story to help others. He has a beautiful soul and I'm so glad I watched this.

"What a waste". That hit me harder than anything. So true, the time you waste with alcohol, the life, the people. Awful.

My dad is the exact opposite. He works at a rehabilitation center and I've never seen him drink in my 20 years of being alive. I think he's afraid of alcohol. I don't blame him

You are quite a guy Calum Best. Brave, honest and giving. You are making your father proud, just being.

what a clever way to protect their identities.

My dad was an alcoholic and as a kid i remember how much i wanted the police to stop us when my dad would chuck down two vodka bottles and would drive around with me in the back seat. Kids should never go through stuff like this. I was 11 years old, in the back seat of my dads car, scared to death because my dad was driving like a maniac and i was praying to God to send a police man our way that would randomly stop us and arrest my dad. Never happened! We had to endure the torture of living with him till he drank himself to death. Alcohol is a drug and people need to stop thinking that a couple of beers every evening are perfectly fine and ok. This attitude needs to stop.

Sober for 5 days!! This documentary is helping me a lot !!! Thanks x

Beautiful guy, how he let's us watch him as he comes to term with his dad being alcoholic, seeing his struggle and the emotional conflictive feelings growing up with a father who was clearly not there for him during the course of his life. Then again, when I see his mother I can sorta understand why their relationship is so strong.

God bless this beautiful young man, I so feel his pain.

So much heartbreak and turmoil even writing this. My father was a functioning alcoholic, but the last 8 years everything fell apart and it's a miracle that he's still alive at 64. It's hard to portray how much of a miracle it is, since he always drank until cross-eyed drunk. So much heartache thinking of the past...

You are lucky to have a loving and down to earth mom! Don't repeat his mistakes I hope👍

I grew up with alcoholism in my family including my mother, I grew up abused and neglected... now I'm 35, married to a good man but still struggling with issues from my childhood(nightmares, social anxiety, depression, etc) but I did chose to not touch alcohol, I've never even been drunk and I also chose to not have children.. I just feel I'm too damaged and there's no need for me to bring more people into the world. Addiction has deep deep lasting effects so please get help if you're struggling with it.

My mom became a hardcore alcoholic when I was 5. She died June 26, 2019 - when I was 17 weeks pregnant with her first grandbaby. She also couldn't come to my wedding because she was just so drunk all the time. It's definitely an illness, and I challenge the concept of 'choice': once the addiction takes full hold, the choice to drink or not is gone. However, the need to drink comes from a deep place of shame, usually from childhood trauma. So the person CAN choose to face their pain (with therapy, treatment, possibly medication, other modes of healing). The problem is, facing that pain is so deeply terrifying that they would often rather blow up their lives than face it. I often wonder the same thing as the host: if she loved me, could she stop? What does it say about me as a person that my mom drank so much? Am i allowed to be angry if there is no choice? I feel guilt for feeling angry, too. The worst thing is you can't actually tell your addicted parent the pain they have caused you: they will feel shame and drink more to ease their shame, instead of soothe you and apologize. My mom would apologize but her shame would become so big that she would disappear into the bottle and then I would fear she would die because of me. To all alcoholic parents out there, if you can, ask your kids how your drinking affects them and really listen for the answer. Let your kids let their pain out.

What an amazing strong down to earth guy Calum is, and handsome as well.

Shout out to all the ACOAs watching this documentary.

What a strong person he is to have done this and addressed his fears and issues about his life with his alcoholic father. Beautiful documentary. Thank you for sharing this :)

What a wonderful guy, at least he had the support of his mom, some of us were all alone. May we find peace and forgiveness in our hearts.

My first husband drank every day until the day he died He was 35. He was never going to stop.

Excellent documentary. Callum is an exceptional young man to share openly his pain and desire to help himself as well as others. So terribly sad that alcohol is legal despite the millions upon millions it kills, mains and destroys. I pray he finds his peace and answers to his questions. Well done.

Brought up by the booze 2 ,can really relate with calum apart from the fame .Thank you man massive respect.

Poor lad. All the best to him and all the other children of alcoholics, including me, in the future.

Bravo to Calum and all who made this doc. This is a very important issue to bring out of the shadows and provide an open, safe ,forum for people affected by alcoholism and drug addiction to "let it all out". Thanks so much. Be well. :)

Whoa. Good for Calum Best, such an intelligent, gracious, and thoughtful man. Especially because his father was so well thought of, so beloved by so many. This took some kind of courage.

absolutely brave on so many levels, to make peace with himself and father he adored and tried to connect with throughout his life.. i´ve seen so many lives suffer due to addicted loved ones.its such a tough disease to overcome but he addressed it in such a constructive way..such an example boy..George´s best result!

From birth to 10 years of age, until my parents divorced, they were both alcoholics. My Mother was also bi-polar. When you are young, you don't know that its not supposed to be that way. You just live in it. Emotional and physical neglect. Being terrified and screaming watching them physically fight with each other and break things. Watching your mother bleeding because her arm went through a window because she was shoved into it. Being sent away to different relatives and not knowing it was because our Mother was in a mental hospital. Being woke up in the middle of the night to run away because dad was gonna shoot us. This was back in the 1960's. Nobody every reported any of these things. There is much more but it would be too long to tell. I can say this, now being 55 years old. That you will never really know or understand why they were like that. Why they couldn't see the profound negative effect they were having on there children. I developed what I know now as anxiety when I was 7. I had a phobia of people (no trust). I carried a lot of anger when I was a teen because I realized that my home life was not how it should have been. I know today that I will always have this hole in my heart for the things I didn't get from my parents, like love, guidance, nurturing etc. All the normal things parents are supposed to give to their children. I went through many years of feeling such anger about it. I cried over it so much. I felt worthless. How could I have any value if my parents didn't even value me. I did therapy, several times, over the years. Talking about it helps, but it cannot, nor will it ever, change it. You can't get it back. Its not our fault, our parents were sick. Even though my dad thought he was a good dad, but he couldn't remember all the bad stuff he did cause he was in a drunk black out. I can say this, about living through that, I never put my own children through that kind of upbringing. For me I feel that God's grace covered me, and let me be the chain breaking of this cycle of addiction, that seems to run in our family. I know I will always feel the lack of not having loving, good, kind parents. But I was able, by God's grace, to be a good parent to my own. I hope you will do your best to live in each day that you have and do your best with it. Its difficult to let go of the bad memories, but just keep pulling yourself into the present moment and live for you, now, and love those whom you love with all your heart. Sorry this got so long. But you are young, and I hope that you don't dwell in the past too long, life is always moving forward. Find your peace in this and every day.

I stopped in 2001 because I promised my son, who was 7 at the time, that I would never drink again - he is now 23 and I love him and his sister more than life itself, their early years are a blur but I would like to think I came back from the edge just in time The sense of shame of my 20 years drunk never leaves me and has kept me sober for 17 years and counting......... For anyone out there who has a drink problem what is more important? Your family or your local barman? If it's the former then get help - never has there been a better time to get the professional support that is needed

A great doco and very emotionally confrontational with a person who is a son, brother, father, and was a great legend in football, but has a addiction that only the addict can change. RIP George Best. Blessings to his son Callum who has been dealing with his own feelings about his Dad, good luck for your future...

This is the first time I realised how decent a man Calum is. I wish him all the best. Take care mate

Alcohol is a poison.

great documentary thx Calum for doing this stay strong and raise a family without alcohol being a part of it. u can be a good parent

What a beautiful Man.

thank you for this. my father was an alcoholic. while he was present in my life every day, he really wasn't and that's because he was always drunk or passed out. he couldn't tell me my favorite color, my best friend's name or what i studied in college. he was a true 100% narcissist along with the addiction so having a relationship with him was i'm possible. he died 3 years ago and i didn't even cry. i wasn't even sad because you can't miss what you never had. if anything i was glad he was gone because it was a huge stress lifted from my life. i've tried my whole life to be better than him and now i'm dealing with my own dependency with prescription pain killers that i have to take because of the sick body my soul occupies. i try so hard not to be like him but unfortunately i seen myself repeating a lot of the same patterns. i don't try to get high, in fact i don't even like being high. i just want to be comfortable and i want to sleep. if i'm asleep than it makes time go faster and i don't have to suffer through the bad emotions. it's a battle everyday for sure!

To be drunk and still play at that level, the guy must be a bona-fide legend in the sporting sense. How could someone function so highly while regularly binging? It seems impossible.

Wow, incredible documentary. Thank you...

Touched a raw nerve. wishing Callum closure, great film.

Handsome lad, just like his dad. Thanks for this documentary.

I was saddened to see the negative effects on children of alcoholics

At first i thought he'd be lookin like Jude Law

I'm glad to have seen this, at random! I spent 6 years in a relationship with an Alcoholic, and my son, from this relationship, who is 5 now, I always wonder just how he will grow up having to put up with his alcoholic father. It's surely not fair! I left that mentally and emotionally tumultuous relationship just over a year ago, and I am glad to have moved apart from all of that chaos, especially for my son's well-being!

They make him out like he was a saint or something. My god, he was just a regular person with an incredible, god-given talent...and his share of flaws. People need to stop turning sports stars into moral heroes.

Alcohol took my Dad's life. he killed himself at age 42. I still struggle on an emotional rollercoaster between pity and hate. I didn't know him sober. He rejected me, he wanted a boy. He started drinking in the Marines. our military is a culture of drunkeness. Shameful.

What an awesome look into a horrible situation. I hope he continues working on himself, getting that emotion and anger it's time to be dealt with, and goes on to find some resolution. I'm sure his mother would be more than thrilled for him to do so and she definitely did a good job leaving when she did. No telling how badly this would've been if he had the added trauma of seeing it effect his mother longer than he did.

Calum, thank you so much for your courage to do this documentary. I too at 41 are still struggling with making sense of an abusive alcoholic father. The guilt gets me so often and I totally relate to commitment issues - I always thought it was just me :-) nope. Im not sure these things in life are something we get "closure on" just my opinion, i think we learn with our wisdom how to mange the pain and chose a different perspective through the eyes of our adult selves instead the lost invalidated invisible child we were so desperately seeking to be seen. Big massive love to you and thank you

I hope this handsome fellow has figured it all out. God bless.

Sally is to be totally respected. She loved her son enough to stop and he will know that in life about his mum - that she loved him more than the alcoholic. Wonderful woman and what she's doing. The fact she stopped shoed strength and will install strength in her son.

Ive been born and raised in the United States so I had no idea about your father who was obviously a huge soccer (football?) star....Congratulations on stepping up and speaking out about such a silent problem. Powerful documentary. I realized I began to have a problem with drinking and I have quit cold turkey. Amazing thing is I feel great. Some things in life can only be experienced to realize the refreshing and life they bring. Thanks for your honesty and humbleness throughout this great video. I feel like I know you.

I like the add for liquor land during a documentary about alcoholism, nice one, class

My dad was a mean alcoholic. He was a respected homicide detective, so this was our big family secret, but I am pretty sure many others knew. My mom was just mean. I think she was so beaten down. He used to sit her in a chair and begin by shouting at her, and cursing. We 5 kids would sit on the stairs and listen. When he began to get physically violent towards her, as opposed to just breaking things, the oldest would go and try to break it up. We walked on eggshells all the time; anything could set him off. If a child got murdered, he would REALLY be upset, and drink a lot. Yet when we went camping in the summer, he did not drink and could be fun. But we were all too scared of him to have fun with him. I remember my mom telling me when I was about 12 to get in the raft with him in the river. I was 100% positive I was not going to come back alive. We are all adults now, and grandparents. We are all screwed up and some of us don't speak to each other. Some of us suffer from depression. It affects you your entire life. But we all made sure OUR kids had it better. When my husband drinks, I stay away. It grosses me out.

I almost wonder what George Best's professional peers, coaches, etc., would say in terms of their personal experiences dealing with his alcoholism, and if it ever affected him as a player, beyond his obvious triumphs and challenges that made him one of the greatest.

Calum thank you for sharing your private struggles with us❤️ The legacy of your dad leaves through you! Cherish the beautiful moments you shared together and forgive the bitter ones. Its not easy but it’s important to let go.. so you give room for beautiful things to come your way. You are an exceptional son and I’m sure your father loved you with all his heart. Remember the good times, let go of the bad times.❤️❤️ PS: I’ve never been diagnosed as an alcoholic but doing my own research I think I was either on my path to becoming one, or I was what they call a functional alcoholic. I am honestly very tired of the feeling of being drunk. The headaches and sometimes regrets of the night before. I decided to turn my life around and cut off alcohol from my life. It’s simply not enjoyable anymore. So whats the point? This video has been very motivating for me. Makes me feel great about deciding to dump alcohol. Life is so much more that being wasted. Thank you again for sharing your story!

What a unique blend of the American and English accent.

I’m not an alcoholic nor do I even drink but I do struggle with substance abuse problems and people just truly don’t understand how hard it is to quit. How embarrassing it is. How badly you want things to change, but it’s so much harder than people think. That’s what I thought. It’s a struggle and I promise you if people could quit overnight a HUGE percentage of people would.

Really brave Calum. You went on a journey a lot of us children of alcoholics think about but don't always have the strength or means to do. My dad is currently battling several cancers exacerbated by his drinking. I know his time is nearing, and I am at a loss for what to do or how to bridge the gap but this documentary really spurred me to take some sort of action. I won't have the chance again.

There is a group called Adult Children Of Alcoholics . They are great in helping us get over the damage done to us by our alcoholic parents.

This is the best documentary I've seen on this subject. How raw and honest. Thank you for sharing your truth with the world.

Extremely touching and sad. Thanks Callum for making this.

My mom would rather drink than feed me when I was an infant If you want to love drugs, so be it. But you cannot be a responsible adult and a druggie.Just don't have kids. There's your answer.

This is so healthy. Wish i could have communicated on this level with my mother.

I lost my little sister and best friend to this illness. She was so young and left 5 beautiful children. Today is the best day to get clean.

Very good documentary. Thank you Calum for sharing this with us. You are a very beautiful compassionate soul, loving and sharing and I hope this very difficult childhood and past will find closure very soon. I hope many can learn from your experience.

I was 21 (i'm now 38) when I lost both parents a month apart from alcohol and left to raise my bro and sis who were 12 and 13. They were good hard working people and I wish they had gotten help. I also wish I had been offered some help, but unfortunately no..I still have issues to this day

Bless him. I know this is an old documentary, but I hope he found his path to making peace. I went through something similar with my mother. It took me years to come to terms with it not being my fault. She took so much out on me, but she was sick....fighting her own demons. I've lived a lifetime with the scars. It made me who I am, and I've always felt like a broken, malfunctioning human being. I suppose we spend too many years thinking it's our fault, but it helps so very much when we realize it isn't. It gave me great love and compassion for my mom and all she endured that made her a broken, sick person. I'll always live with the scars, but I'm so thankful to no longer hate my mom, but pity her. I hope this young man found his way through. And of course so many others dealing with the same hurts and loss.

I know of a little girl she was 4 when she found her daddy dead from the alcohol there is a major problem with alcoholism in this county thanks for highlighting and to Calum for being so strong can't be easy but programs like this help people understand the devastation caused by this disease

What a lovely person Calum is.

Is it just me or that dude looks like Jude Law?

My mum was an alcoholic. She would never admit it. I turned into an alcoholic. It's hard to deal with.

Thanks for sharing this significant part of your journey. Hope you keep on healing...

Very touching. Good on you Calum for doing that it must have been so hard. Onwards and upwards from now on. I've just finished reading your book brought me to tears a few times. Your are an amazing young man and I also think your mother is also an amazing woman. Well done.

Thank you for taking this journey and sharing your feelings. Very brave. Finding a way to get unresolved feelings about terminal disease if courageous. I am sorry your father was ill and did not get well. It's not your fault. I too was brought up by alcoholics. It's my challenge to overcome. I am happy and content singularly. I tried to save the alcoholics but they did not want help.

Poor guy. One of the memories of my dad was being 10 years old, living in chicago and me waiting in the car for hours outside the bar until he came out piss drunk and I would have to drive the car home, yup, a 10 year old driving his drunk dad home. I became his 10 yr old enabler.

Thanks for posting this was sad but it gave me a better understanding of calum and why he did some of the things he did when he was younger.

This was so powerful. Thank you

Calum Thank you for sharing your story. I suspect this will really ring true for many young adults like yourself. It's been 8 years since you recorded this video. I hope you have been able to move on in your life. Best wishes.

Alcohol destroys people, families, children, dreams, hopes. That's really sad.

great doco...well done!! thankyou!!

Awesome documentary . Watching this from New Zealand. My dad is an alcoholic, so can relate to so much in this

I'm an ex alcoholic, well, I say "ex" but I'll always be an alcoholic ,and I still struggle every day of my life. But I'm 10 years sober now, and I have full custody of my daughter. I'm married to a beautiful lady, and we have 2 more daughters. Praying for anyone with this disease. Xx

Such a brave young man.

Hugs for anyone who had to grow up like this, or is having to grow up like this. It shouldn't be that way.

That's a tough gig as a child.thanks for your honesty. I can't imagine how difficult that must have been.

Both my husband and I quit drinking about a year and a half before our daughter was born. She will be 14 this year. I don't remember my last drink, and I don't miss it. It does affect our social life though, we are basically home bodies, raising our daughter. It seems that everyone else does drink, especially at any social occasions, and watching other people drinking and getting tipsy, or drunk is not my idea of fun, so we just stick to ourselves. Alcohol is an ugly drug.

I just love Calum Best, Angela did an amazing job raising him.

So powerful, it must have been hard to talk about this, especially on camera. My father passed away when I was 13 because of his drinking and I'm 23 now. I'm still struggling to forgive him, and forgive myself, because I was so horrible to him before he died. I hated him for what he did to my mother and my sisters, but if I could change anything about my life, it was how I treated him before he died. Sometimes I think I'll carry this guilt with me for the rest of my life.

Much love to everyone in recovery out there ❤❤❤

"... If you can't address things when you are young they don't just go away. In order to feel better you have to talk about it." (Calum Best)

Calum Best you are such a decent man...few good men left in this world and you are one of them. You mum should be so proud of you!!!

This really hit home...dont give up on you. As a child of an alcoholic in my 50s, my dad died at 80 still an alcoholic, I now know why my relationship issues are always difficult. Being a middle child of 5 kids, my mother struggled hard to keep dad sober and spent mor etime on that quest than mothering us. I was a daddys girl and just wanted attention, so for my 15th birthday he bought me alcohol and so it began.I am now divorced,my kids dont speak to me and my mother still blames my dad for her issues and for being a terrible father. I see her as an addict too......an addictive personality. She too is on her 3rd marriage, never drank but never knew what to do.I no longer drink but it destroyed , our relationships with each other and our lives. Great insight....thanks.

This is a topic I've avoided for many years. Both parents alcoholics. Dad passed when I was a kid. Mom lost it and ultimately I overcame things that no kid ever should experience. I'm an adult now. I live on my own, rely on nobody but myself, proud of how far I've come. The demons are still there and I'm afraid they will never go away. I just want to let it go.

So sad. Calum seems like a good guy. This doc made me think of the video for Placebo, Song to Say Goodbye, where the little boy has to parent his sick abusive father. Children should never be made responsible for their irresponsible parents. It impacts them for the rest of their lives.

His emotions were so raw and beautiful especially towards the end, that really made me tear up.

Great Doc! Well done!

Alcohol was the ruin of my family. My mother died from end stage liver disease when I was 30, it was a horrendous, shocking death. I knew she had liver disease and told my parents, but was admonished for being hysterical and scaremongering. Her death happened over a period of 48 hours, it was bloody, brutal and still haunts me, ten years later. Five years after my mum passed away, my father succumbed to his own addiction and died from heart failure on my 35th birthday. I found him in the living room, asleep. His death broke my heart. Five years on, I have a beautiful, two year old son and vow I will never put him through the horror I lived through and am still affected by. Ours was a loving family, ruined by alcohol, which was used as a crutch.