Influencer recounts blackout incident, sobriety journey sheds light on mommy wine culture

An influential mother who built a large online following by promoting parenting and lifestyle brands says she woke up after a pool party with 'hangxiety from hell' and believes she nursed her newborn while blackout drunk. Suzanne Warye, one of the internet's earliest mommy influencers, describes the incident in her forthcoming book The Sober Shift and says the memory is fixed in dread: she could have harmed her baby during intoxication. The Daily Mail, in an exclusive interview, published her reflections on how that night reframed her view of mommy wine culture.

Warye was a paid influencer for an alcohol brand that targeted women, a detail she says helped illuminate how the culture around motherhood and drinking has become normalized. The memory's impact pushed her to seek change: research into the science of sobriety and examining how alcohol marketing exploits gender and motherhood to expand consumption. She cites a World Health Organization article from 2022 noting that alcohol use among women is a growing market for producers and that campaigns often cast drinking by women as empowerment, which can obscure risk. She also points to broader data suggesting that the pandemic has shifted drinking patterns among women, creating a larger consumer base for alcohol brands.

In her research, she found that even a single glass of wine can have measurable effects on the body. Experts say it can raise cortisol, disrupt mood-regulating chemicals, and affect mental health even when drinking is not ongoing. The Nursing Report article from April 2023, by Dr. Emilene Reisdorfer of MacEwan University, notes that alcohol has been marketed as a coping tool for mothers and that content posted by mothers on social media during the COVID-19 era often depicted drinking as risk-free.

Five and a half years into sobriety, with her husband Russell joining a year ago, Warye says her biggest victory is modeling emotional resilience for her three children and teaching them to tolerate uncomfortable feelings without alcohol. 'You will feel lonely,' she says, 'but you won't stay lonely.' She acknowledges the loneliness at times, including grief over her father’s death during early sobriety, but says the circle of supportive connections has grown smaller and more meaningful.

Her memoir, The Sober Shift: An Empowering Exploration of Sobriety, Parenting, and the Joys of Alcohol-Free Living, is due September 30 from HarperOne.