Episode 62: Jessica Guerrieri (@jessicaguerrieriauthor)Episode 62: Jessica Guerrieri (@jessicaguerrieriauthor)
Creative Sobriety
Kristen Bear talks with author and sober mum Jessica Guerrieri about long-term recovery, sexual trauma, sisterhood and motherhood through the lens of her new novel. The conversation blends personal sobriety, relapse honesty and complex female identities with a focus on creative life in sobriety.
1:16:26•19 May 2026
Both Can Be True: Sobriety, Sisterhood and Owning Your Whole Self
Episode Overview
- Jessica shares 13 years of alcohol sobriety, from blackout drinking to building a family and a writing career she loves.
- Her new novel focuses on a sober mum with long-term recovery, offering representation of women living fully in sobriety rather than stuck at rock bottom.
- She speaks openly about surviving multiple sexual assaults and using fiction, with clear trigger warnings, to shed shame and help other women feel less alone.
- The conversation highlights how relapse often starts in the mind and can appear through other substances even after years without alcohol.
- Both women emphasise the power of sober creativity and female community in holding complex identities like mother, artist, partner and survivor at the same time.
“"I don't have anything without sobriety, so here I am."”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? Creative Sobriety brings that question to life as host Kristen Bear chats with returning guest, award‑winning author and proud sober mum of three, Jessica Guerrieri. Across an easy, funny and very frank conversation, you'll hear Jessica share 13 years of alcohol sobriety, from blackout drinking in her twenties to a life she describes as "everything beyond my wildest dreams" – motherhood, books, and a community she treasures.
She’s clear about one thing: "I don't have anything without sobriety, so here I am." The pair talk about Jessica’s new novel, *Both Can Be True*, which centres on women in long‑term recovery rather than the usual rock‑bottom clichés. Kristen is passionate about championing sober creatives, and Jessica explains why she wanted to show a strong, sober main character with nearly a decade of recovery, as well as the messier bits many people don’t see.
A clear trigger warning runs through the chat: the book and conversation include sexual violence and trauma. Jessica, a survivor herself, explains why she puts detailed trigger notes in her books and why she refuses the idea that assault is just something women should quietly accept. Writing the story, she says, helped her lay down shame and offer other women language for their own experiences. You also get rich discussions of sisterhood and family.
Jessica talks about the complex bond between sisters, the emotional load they carry for each other, and how that inspired her fictional sisters Frankie and Mare. There’s honest talk about relapse with other substances, parenting neurodivergent children, and the constant mental "itch" of addiction that never fully disappears. If you’re sober, sober‑curious, a creative person, or a woman who’s ever felt pressured to be just one thing, this chat might make you feel a lot less alone.
Which parts of yourself are you still being told you’re "too much" for?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.
Related Episodes
Similar episodes from other shows in the catalogue.