Alaskan Bush People Family Member Talks About Addiction

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Photo by Discovery Channel

Regular readers to ASJ know we have written a lot of profiles on Alaska-based “nonscripted” shows. And it makes sense that networks like Discovery, National Geographic and the History Channel would be attracted to the Last Frontier’s open spaces and major characters.

In our May 2015 issue we did a profile of Alaskan Bush People that you can read here.  The show has been one of the most polarizing among the genre of Alaska-centric programming. Controversy has followed the Brown family throughout their time on TV.

But there is reality TV and then there is reality, and People Magazine is profiling the alcohol addiction issues that oldest son Matt Brown has suffered from.

Here’s a sample from People:

 

Matt Brown didn’t like the man he was becoming.
“I could see myself spiraling,” the Alaskan Bush People star says exclusively in the current issue of PEOPLE.
Once he began spending more and more time drinking with friends “in town” over the past year, Brown admits, “I was more withdrawn. I was slower. Things didn’t excite me the way they used to.” Brown, 33, says he first started drinking a few years ago when his family‘s boat broke down and they began spending time in nearby Juneau.
“I’ve always been able to handle city life, no problem.” says Brown. “But I started hanging out with people who drank. They didn’t have a problem with it so while I was around them, I started drinking.” The eldest Brown child says he began to make “bad choices”; he chose to stop drinking but picked up the habit again in the past year. “I started drinking lightly and then it got to be more and more,” he says. “That’s when I saw the problem around the corner, and I didn’t want to be one of those guys.”

However you feel about the Brown family – and despite all the skeptics who question the Browns’ authenticity, they have their loyal fans and defenders, let’s hope Matt gets the help he needs.