BPD & Being A Dad, Getting Sober, and More. (Feat. Clark)
BPD & Being A Dad, Getting Sober, and More. (Feat. Clark)

Bold Beautiful Borderline

Clark talks about growing up with trauma, starting alcohol use at nine, and later getting sober while living with Borderline Personality Disorder. He shares how fatherhood, therapy, and honest support have kept him alive through addiction, suicide attempts and intense emotions.

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49:54•17 May 2026

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BPD, Fatherhood and Five Years Sober: Clark’s Unfiltered Story

Episode Overview

Starting to drink at nine became Clark’s main way to escape violence and pain, leading to daily heavy use through school and adulthood.
The birth of his son and the fear of losing him pushed Clark to put himself into rehab and commit to sobriety.
Clark links his intense emotions, people-pleasing, fear of abandonment and “darkness” to BPD, depression, PTSD and anxiety.
Hands-on work with cars, gaming and time in the workshop help him manage overwhelming feelings without turning to alcohol or drugs.
His biggest message to other men is to ask for help early, even if it feels impossible, because reaching out has kept him alive.

“Ask for fucking help. For the love of God. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. But it's also the thing that's kept me alive.”

What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol after starting to drink at nine years old? This conversation with Clark offers a raw look at that question through the lens of Borderline Personality Disorder, addiction, and fatherhood. Hosted by Sarah, the chat moves quickly from dark humour to heavy honesty.

Clark talks about growing up around violence, losing his dad young, and treating alcohol as his escape: taking a half-gallon of vodka to school, raiding his grandparents’ “liquor store”, and later using meth. Sobriety only came when his son became the reason to live, even while court battles and long stretches without contact pushed him to multiple suicide attempts.

You’ll hear how he put himself into rehab, stayed sober, and is now coming up on five years alcohol-free while raising his 14-year-old son full-time. He’s blunt about the grief of giving up drinking, calling it his best friend, yet he’s crystal clear about the stakes: if he drinks again, he risks losing everything he’s fought for.

Clark also breaks down how BPD shows up for him: people-pleasing at work, fear of abandonment, intense emotions, and what he calls “the darkness” of depression, PTSD and anxiety. He rejects being seen as a “monster” because of his diagnosis, insisting, “I’m not my diagnosis. Yeah, I have it.

But I’m not it.” There’s relief and humour in the everyday stuff too — working on wild car builds to calm his head, gaming as escape, bickering over Diet Pepsi versus Diet Coke, and sharing how his fiancé and mentor are the first people who didn’t run when they saw the full picture. This is one for anyone curious about BPD, men’s mental health, or the messy mix of addiction, recovery and parenting.

It might leave you wondering: who could you be if you finally asked for help?

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