Captain Sandy Yawn decided to go sober after dealing with addiction issues in 1989. Just one year later, the Below Deck star secured her first ever job on a boat – and the rest is history!
She was just 13 years old when she started washing boats for pocket money. The Below Deck captain admits she “had to get in trouble a lot and got into the addiction thing” before taking it seriously.
Captain Sandy got sober in 1989
Captain Sandy Yawn admits she “kind of got into the addiction thing” and “got in trouble” before she landed her first job boating. The Bravo star got sober in 1989 and was offered a job a year later.
She told Bravo that she “was the kid that was on that merry go round of drugs and alcohol addiction,” adding that she “wasn’t employable” but that the maritime industry taking her on saved her life.
“I was on that drug train, I kept getting arrested, and I got sober,” Sandy continued. At the time, she entered an advertisement in the newspaper to pay off all of her fines, and started washing boats.
Below Deck star was arrested pre-fame
Captain Sandy was arrested at the age of 17, which led to a series of arrests in her twenties. She ended up going to jail for a DUI and was court-ordered to undergo a detox.
After going to jail multiple times, she decided enough was enough. “As a result, I would get in a car and drink and drive. I was always in the hospital. I woke up one day and said, ‘I want it different’”, Yawn said.
Sandy opened up about addiction
Sandy opened up about her struggle with alcohol abuse during season 4 of Below Deck, after she became concerned with crew member Travis Michalzik’s drinking.
“The only place I’m coming from is compassion because I’ve been there. It’s addiction,” she told Travis at the time. “Sometimes I just wish I could have a glass of wine, but it’s like I can’t stop with one.”
Yawn added, “I would have the whole bottle, then another one, then another one. It got me nowhere. Or, sometimes, incarcerated. When I add alcohol, I cannot predict my behavior.”
If you’ve been affected by this story you can contact American Addiction Centers on (877) 686-7688 or Talk To Frank on 0300 123 6600 in the UK.
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