Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi Says She "Turned to the Bottle" to Cope with Her Illness
"I would just drink and drink until I couldn't feel my body," the #Shahs star said.
Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi's partying ways while dealing with rheumatoid arthritis have caused some of her Shahs of Sunset castmates to question the legitimacy of her disease this season.
However, GG revealed in a recent interview with PEOPLE that she used alcohol to help cope with her very real illness, which has affected her body, from not being able to hold her phone or sit in the car for too long to giving her major fatigue. "I wasn't mentally ready for it," GG told PEOPLE of undergoing chemotherapy to help treat her rheumatoid arthritis. "I turned to the bottle for pain and mental management. I was drinking a lot. And when I say 'a lot,' I mean I was literally waking up in the morning and downing a bottle of vodka ... I just wanted to numb out."
GG explained that even though it may have looked like she was having a blast while out partying, its negative effects would hit her hard the next day. "I would just drink and drink until I couldn't feel my body," she said. "Because you know, when we drink, it's like we can do anything – we're invincible. So I was dancing on tables and then I would wake up the next day and not be able to walk for the whole day. But those moments felt so good to me when I was in them that the following day didn't matter. I just wanted to feel that numbness again."
But eventually, GG, who has dealt with drug abuse in the past but has been clean for 11 years, realized her drinking was "very scary" and "it became obvious that it was a problem." So she checked herself into a treatment center earlier this year, and she completed the program about five weeks ago. "It's all about cleansing the liver and the soul," she said of the "spiritual retreat." "I'm learning different ways of living. It's a different lifestyle. It's been an amazing transition for me."
GG said that her weekly chemotherapy treatments are now "physically, it's more okay than I thought it was going to be."
But how does GG feel about her castmates' doubts about her health this season of Shahs? "I should be grateful to these people. They gave more attention to RA! Now more people know what RA is, they're Googling it," she told PEOPLE. "Like, wow, this disease that so many people have never heard of is now getting so much attention. That's amazing."
Though we've seen GG get into heated arguments with her pals about her disease this season of Shahs, she assured PEOPLE that she doesn't deal with conflict the way she used to in the past. "I mean, don't get me wrong – that fire is still inside of me, and the fire will definitely show up when it needs to, but let's just say I've buried the knives," she said. "If a situation ever occurs, I know now how to use my words instead of my fists."
What's the real reason why GG can get so heated? Watch her explain with the help of her Shahs buddy Shervin Roohparvar, below.
