CAREY’S CORNER {carey peña reports}
ESCAPING ROCK BOTTOM Newscaster Brandon Lee uses the power of his voice to help others overcome addiction
Carey Peña | Contributing Writer
It was nearly 5 p.m. and the news was in full swing. I was the main evening anchor at the time and that’s when I first met Brandon Lee. He was in Phoenix to interview for a job at KTVK and management brought him into the studio to observe our newscast. He was friendly and well put-together. Little did I know that beneath that smile and the impeccable suit he was hiding so many secrets. Lee got the job and he and I later became coanchors. We also became very good friends. Still, I had no idea about the demons that had followed him since childhood. Slowly, as time went on, he began to share with me that he was a recovered alcoholic. 18 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | AUGUST 2019
“People who are on TV have immense pressure by the companies they work for to portray that they have some perfect life,” Lee said. “I challenge that way of thinking. Because we don’t relate to perfection. We relate to one another when we open up and share our trauma and our scars.”
COMING CLEAN To begin truly healing, Lee decided it was time to share his story. All of it. Not only was he an alcoholic, Lee also dealt with drug addiction and sexual abuse. He writes about all of this in his new memoir, “Mascara Boy. Bullied, Assaulted & Near Death: Surviving Trauma & Addiction” and we talked about it on my podcast.