‘The Bold & Beautiful’ Star Sean Kanan Opens Up About Battle to Stay Sober & Marriage

Sean Kanan is known largely for playing Mike Barnes within The Karate Kid universe or Deacon Sharpe in The Bold and the Beautiful.

The actor has been on the daytime soap since 2000 and fans of B&B will know how Deacon struggled with alcohol issues. Now Kanan is opening up about his own booze battle in a sitdown interview with People alongside his wife Michele.

The 58-year-old actor spoke to the outlet about his fight to stay sober after quitting drinking almost five years ago.

“I had been trying for a very long time to get sober, and I had intermittent periods of success followed by fairly catastrophic setbacks, let’s say,” he admits.

It was wife Michele who gave him the strength to face his demons. The star recalled her saying, “I have put my heart and everything into this relationship. Please tell me that I didn’t back the wrong horse.” The couple have been married since 2012 after he divorced his first wife Athena Ubach more than a decade prior. 

Kanan opened up about his struggles to stay away from alcohol. Yet it was Michele’s words on this occassion “set something in motion that was different than anything before.” For him, there was a real “fear of losing the thing that I loved the most.”

Michele gave her own perspective in the joint conversation, clarifying that it was less an ultimatum. She moreso laid out what was to come depending on the path he chose. Michele recounted to People the words she spoke, which were, “’Look, this is our life together, and it’s either going to be painful and you’re going to watch me slowly die because I love you, and I see that you’re hurting yourself for some reason that I can’t fix, and that’s going to slowly kill me as well. So, we’re in it together. Whatever you want to do, the ball is in your court.” 

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Kanan took what was said to heart. Having his other half in his corner for this fight for the long term gave him the strength to break the cycle. He also credited God and his relationship with the Almighty. Kanan added, “Probably the most incredible part about [giving up alcohol], aside from my relationship with Michele, is that I don’t miss it. It’s not like I’m white-knuckling it and I’m hanging on.”

The couple have taken their relationship experiences and written the book aptly titled “Way of the Cobra Couples.” Kanan, who can be seen in the last season of Cobra Kai, has dedicated a lot of his time these days to helping others through writing and coaching while continuing to act.