The story of Lois Wilson, cofounder of Al-Anon Family Groups and wife of Alcoholics Anonymous cofounder Bill Wilson will be featured Sunday, April 25 at 9 p.m. Eastern in a Hallmark Hall of Fame special on CBS. The movie is based on the book, "The Lois Wilson Story: When Love is Not Enough," written by William G. Borchert.Winona Ryder plays Lois Wilson and Barry Pepper portrays Bill Wilson in the made of television movie.
Borchert, who collaborated on the screenplay for the movie, "My Name Is Bill W.," based his book upon interviews with Lois Wilson, as she related what it was like living with the world's most famous alcoholic, as he spiraled from Wall Street whiz into the depths of alcoholism.
In an interview with About.com Addictions Guide Elizabeth Hartney, Borchert explains why after doing the movie about Bill W. he felt compelled to finish the story by writing the story of Lois. "... without Lois, Bill Wilson would have died -- she nurtured him and kept Bill alive. Really, Lois was really responsible for everything, for AA, the 12 Steps and for discovering that by living with an alcoholic, the family had become very ill from the disease and needed to find a way out also," Borchert tells Hartney.
Together the two adventure-seekers survived the turmoil and anguish to help birth the 12 step movement, recognized by many as one of the twentieth century's most important social movements, which brought help and hope to millions.
Borchert's book was published by Hazelden in 2005.
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More About Al-Anon: Photo: © Hazelden
I can’t wait to see it.
I’m sure that this movie will be a blatent misrepresentation of the truth about both Alcoholics Anonymous and ALANON.
It amazes me that these religious cults have been able to climb to such lofty social status with few people recognizing what really goes on within these destructive organizations.
They’ve pulled a bait and switch on millions of unsuspecting alcoholics.
CULTS ??? RELIGIOUS CULTS ??..Are you out of your mind??..
AA..and Alanon..SAVED MY LIFE..and the lives of countless others fighting the nightmare addiction to alcohol and or drugs..
I am afraid you are so misguided ..it is a shame..
Please..do not slam something you obviously have no real knowledge or experience with..especially because you could prevent someone..even one person from going to get help..and it could COST a life..
Addiction is a destructive..and progressive disease..and I really don’t think asking a ‘power greater than ourselves’..is RELIGIOUS…when your ‘higher power”..can be your kitchen table if you choose it to be..Let’s face it..The programs would not be necessary..if people who become addicted..could manage their OWN lives..right??..So maybe a power greater than ourselves..is not such a bad idea..??..
Please take your comment off of here..it really is of no good..right??.
Thank you..deb
Not all of us have had a good experience with AA and Al-Anon, Deb, and it’s not because we have no knowledge, it’s because AA and Al-Anon are simply not for everyone. I have been sober 12 years and found AA to be a terrible, destructive force as I attempted to get my head on straight. AA wanted to be what AA needed me to be, an alcoholic forever branded by the “disease”, never cured, always “in recovery” ODAAT. I went for nine years and finally left after I realized that I was not powerless and that there was truly no need for lifetime identification with a problem I no longer had. Needless to say, the AA folks I know were not supportive of my leaving: they told me I was going to “die out there.”
It is that sort of thing that makes people say AA is a cult, Deb. Cults do things like tell you that you will die if you leave.
Meanwhile, I seriously doubt that this movie is going to be an accurate portrayal of Bill and Lois’s marriage. Bill was a notorious skirt-chaser who couldn’t keep his pants zipped and left 10% of his Big Book royalties (he got perpetual royalties) to his mistress, Helen Wynn, when he died. (Yes, I have seen a copy of his will, it’s available in the NYC probate records.)
Deb,
I have plenty of experience with the Alcoholics Anonymous cult. The whole experience was really confusing. I believed everything they said. AA is a dangerous religious cult that preys on vulnerable people for the purpose of religious indoctrination.
Do you really believe that your kitchen table is a “power greater than yourself”? If you do, I feel sorry for you. You must have been thoroughly indoctrinated to believe such a thing. I’m willing to bet that your kitchen table doesn’t give a hoot whether you drink or not.
Deb, I left AA because the mental gymnastics were just too much. I can no longer subscribe to such delusional nonsense. I had a drinking problem… AA brainwashed me into believing that I could never quit without the help of any higher power I chose. (kitchen table HA!)
I was finally able to quit drinking and get on with my life after I left the cult. It took a whole lot of deprogramming, but now I am finally able to think for myself again.
AA causes people to believe that they are POWERLESS to do anything about their drinking, and that they are responsible for every hardship that they have ever encountered. That’s how they break you down… They tell you over and over that you are a piece of crap until you begin to believe it. They rewrite your history, and beat you down until you hate yourself to erase your own personality and become a slogan spouting cult member.
I know. I was in AA for years. AA never kept me sober.
AA/Al anon are not religious, it’s a shame to hear about negative experiences with these 12 step programs but they do happen and there is no promise that it won’t. Everyone encounters negative experiences in life whether in AA/Al anon or not but I believe that there are some valuable lessons to be learnt in these programs. No one tells you what you should or must do and most people when they first come to a meeting are there because they have already been “told” or have “told” themselves in some way that they are a “piece of crap” because no matter what they did the drinking/drinker didn’t stop. In reference to the words “take what you like and leave the rest” it’s evident that there is a great deal of freedom in how the program can be interpreted. It’s sad to hear some take what they didn’t like and left the rest. Recovery is a very personal experience and it’s unfair to judge another person’s method of recovery if it’s working for them. Best wishes to all.
I can see when the film is being aired but can someone let me know what channel it will be aired on?
AA works for those that want it and those that do the 12 steps. If your not interested in our Recovery then Grab a bag of Pop Corn and a six pack of Beer watch the movie. If you have 4 or 5 beers left after the movie have a good life. If you find yourself at the store looking for more beer after the movie try AA it will work for you too!!
I also find it really too bad that AA members refuse, absolutely blindly refuse, to acknowledge the problems within the program and suggest that those of us for whom it was not a fit, or who were abused in it, must not want recovery.
I have been sober for nearly 12 years and as I said before, AA stood in the way of this. Not because it exists, but because it has too much of a monopoly on the recovery world. It wasn’t a fit for me. I did not benefit from the belief that I was powerless. I did not need ego deflation. I needed the opposite: empowerment and tools to learn to take care of myself. I found those things in other ways, mostly through individual therapy, but when I’d go to AA I’d be told to follow my sponsor’s directions and to ignore my therapist.
Thank God I listened to my heart instead of to the fear that AA instilled in me. I feel I owe my mental health today to my ultimate refusal to believe what I was told about myself in AA. Breaking free of that cult has been the best thing I have ever done for my recovery, aside from becoming abstinent in the first place.
Jest Kelly,
It is possible to get sober without AA.
I’ve been sober for almost 4 years, and I have no desire to drink. AA actually stood as a barrier between myself and the recovery that I was looking for.
What a movie..I cried throughout “When Love is not enough.
I can’t think of any other movie that will be an excellent learning tool for Alcoholicss
i missed the movie!wanted to see it really bad.can i rent it?
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