SHAIR 72: "Straight Pepper Diet" with Joseph W. Naus, when SEX and Alcohol Addiction collide.SHAIR 72: "Straight Pepper Diet" with Joseph W. Naus, when SEX and Alcohol Addiction collide.
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Former lawyer Joseph W. Naus talks openly about how sex and alcohol addictions collided, leading to a violent blackout, prison time, and disbarment. He shares how 12-step recovery, simple daily actions, and writing his memoir Straight Pepper Diet helped him rebuild a very different life.
1:20:08•28 Jun 2016
Sex, Booze, and a Lawyer’s Collapse: Joseph Naus on Hitting Bottom and Leaning In
Episode Overview
- Addiction can coexist with outward success; secret behaviours around sex and alcohol can wreck even the strongest careers and relationships.
- Powerlessness may show up most clearly in the addiction that seems smallest, as Joseph found with nicotine after stopping alcohol and sex.
- Immersing in 12-step meetings, reading the literature, and following sponsorship can provide a workable daily structure, even in prison.
- Breaking life down into “one thing at a time” makes overwhelming wreckage and legal consequences more manageable in early recovery.
- Leaning into the programme, asking for help, and showing up for others in the rooms can create support even when your past looks unforgivable on paper.
“If you just put the effort in and lean into it, whatever it is, you’ll get the solution in the rooms.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation with author and former lawyer Joseph W. Naus hits hard from the very first line: “On Tuesday, I was a respected civil trial lawyer making six figures. On Wednesday, I woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed, charged with attempted murder, and then it got worse.” The episode focuses on how Joseph’s sex and alcohol addictions tore through an already hard-won life.
Growing up poor with a heroin-addicted mum, he fought his way to Pepperdine Law and a six-figure career, all while secretly wrapped up in compulsive visits to massage parlours, prostitutes, and heavy drinking. He describes that first big binge in New York as “the new best thing I’ve ever experienced” and explains how alcohol, sex, and nicotine became a three-headed monster he couldn’t control.
Things climax with the blackout night that ends in a violent arrest, a string of serious charges, and eventually time in Chino prison. Joseph talks frankly about reading the Big Book behind bars, clinging to 12-step principles, and realising that cigarettes, of all things, finally taught him powerlessness. He’s equally open about life after disbarment: rebuilding financially through contract work, starting a small publishing company, and writing his memoir, *Straight Pepper Diet*, as a page‑turning account of addiction and recovery.
Stylistically, the episode is raw, funny in places, and very direct. It’s ideal for people juggling multiple addictions, anyone ashamed of their “double life”, or those wondering if recovery is even worth it once the damage looks too big to fix.
Joseph’s core message is simple and memorable: “Lean in… if you just put the effort in and lean into it, whatever it is, you’ll get the solution in the rooms.” If you’ve ever thought your wreckage makes you a lost cause, could Joseph’s story be the nudge that proves you wrong?
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