After 35 days in treatment, Matt said he had gained a new perspective on himself and his future. “I learned a lot about myself in those 35 days. I’ve turned my weakness into a strength,” he said, before adding, “In life, we all get lost every now and then and have to find our way back.”
That quote now feels especially heavy, because Matt continued to speak about recovery publicly in the years that followed. In a May 2024 Instagram video, he marked his sober anniversary and said he had put the bottle down on March 19, 2020.
Matt said he was thinking about how difficult the journey had been and how, after a certain point, it became easier. He also spoke honestly about relapse, saying, “Relapse was part of my recovery. It doesn’t have to be. It was though.”
He told followers that relapsing meant losing days, but not losing experience. Matt said he eventually built enough faith, self-belief, and reason to keep going, and he encouraged others in early recovery not to give up.
“Early recovery is really hard,” Matt said, mentioning the first 30, 60, or 90 days. He ended the message with one of his familiar phrases: “Never give up, never surrender.”
