Janet Devlin: Alcoholism 'still incredibly taboo in NI'

At the age of 16, Janet Devlin looked like she had the world at her feet.

The singer from Gortin, County Tyrone, had just finished fifth in ITV talent show X Factor and her dream of having a career in music was becoming a reality.

But when out of the public eye, Janet, who is now 27, was struggling.

"I spent every ounce of my being portraying this idea that everything was fine when behind the scenes I was broken," she told BBC News NI, ahead of a new documentary about her addiction.

By her late teens, Janet was drinking heavily.

"It got to the point where I couldn't function in society. I couldn't get to work, I couldn't do my job.

"I was turning up drunk for studio recordings.

"I was just an absolute mess."

She describes her time on the talent show in 2011 as "really hard" and as she tried to navigate her new-found fame, she was also the victim of cyber-bullying.

After finishing X Factor, Janet moved to Sheffield to record her first album.

Living by herself for the first time and miles away from home, she said loneliness and social anxiety led to alcohol addiction, self-harm and attempts to take her own life.

"I was fighting a lot of demons at the time with mental health but I was trying my best to make the most of the situation that I'd been given," she said.

"I had my issues before I went on the show but I definitely wouldn't regret doing it."

Janet has now been sober for six years.

In 2020, she spoke openly for the first time about her alcohol addiction in a YouTube video which has now had over one million views.

In a new BBC NI documentary, she speaks candidly again about her experiences of addiction and the impact it had on those closest to her.

Speaking to other young women who have experienced addiction, Janet said that although they all had different experiences she was surprised by the similarities in their stories and her own.

In Northern Ireland, alcohol-related deaths in young women are at an all-time high - and are increasing faster than anywhere else in the UK.

A recent Stormont report warned harms caused by drug and alcohol use are "significant and likely to get worse".

In the documentary, one of Northern Ireland's leading liver consultants, Dr Roger McCorry, warns that he is seeing an increasing number of patients at advance stages of liver disease and with alcohol-related brain damage.

"Back home it's still incredibly taboo to be openly talking about this," Janet said.

"I think it's one of those things that people keep very hush hush and they don't discuss that much.

"I just thought there's obviously people going through it that are too afraid to talk about it, so for me it's important to talk about it to try and remove the stigma of it."

Since becoming sober, she has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Bipolar II Disorder, and said gaining a better understanding of these conditions has helped in her recovery from addiction.

"I used to make my life incredibly difficult by drinking because I wasn't dealing with the actual root of my issues," she said.

"Since getting sober I went and I got a diagnosis and I'm able to be medicated for my underlying mental health conditions.

"Life is so much easier now than what it used to be."

Music has also formed part of her therapy.

"It helps me connect with my feelings, what I'm going through," she said.

"It's a creative outlet for somebody who has too many feelings."

If you, or someone you know, have been affected by the issues covered in this article the BBC Action Line has details of organisations which may be able to help.

Janet Devlin: Young, Female and Addicted will be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland, Monday 28 February at 22:35 GMT and is available afterwards on BBC iPlayer.