Aaron Sorkin on Addiction, Recovery, and Writing

On September 19, 2026, Aaron Sorkin spoke about his career and recovery on The Interview podcast. He said he lost a decade of his life to drugs and that Carrie Fisher called him and urged him to seek help. Since that call he went to rehab and has been sober for years. Although he feared he could not write without drugs, he found he could write sober and later achieved success with television and film.

The conversation touched on his new film The Social Reckoning, which opens on October 9, and on how his past shaped his craft. While he admitted his drug use was private and isolating, he credited friends for encouraging him to change. The interview was recorded in Beverly Hills and has been released as a podcast episode and transcript. Therefore, listeners can hear his own words about addiction, recovery, and writing. He said his big fear after rehab was relapsing, so he accepted small, uncredited jobs to practice writing. This period helped him regain confidence and eventually write the West Wing pilot sober. He now teaches and speaks about craft.