‘Little Women: NY’ Star Tells Us What It’s Like to Be a Sober Little Person

Brought on as a guest to amp up drama on Little Women: Los Angeles, Call stirred up so much shit with her ex and his new girlfriend that she was given the starring role in the New York franchise. What's most gripping about her presence on the show, however, is her frankness about her alcoholism and addiction issues and the way they interplay with the unique experience of being a little person.

Call tells me she first got sober in 2013, after decades of drinking that started in her teens, where she was a "high school girl doing high school–aged things." When she got into her 20s, her drinking got more out of hand. "My 20s were crazy, drinking-wise," she tells me, "but I associated it with networking and being fun and being wealthy and artsy, and, just, it was nice to have wine."

On the show, Call describes how she drank to deal with the loneliness and isolation she often experienced. She also discusses the way her drinking lead to her behavior getting out of hand, including having one-night stands with random men and even waking up one morning with a dog collar around her neck.

Call says she rock bottom shortly after she graduated from college with a French degree in 2013: She had invited a professor over to her house for a drink and used the opportunity to stock her bar with $250 worth of liquor. Call drank a full bottle of wine before moving on to beer, while her professor had a single glass. "I remember waking up the next morning and [her half-full] chardonnay was on my coffee table, and, motherfucker, if I didn't finish it." Depressed, Call then spent days of lying in bed immobilized by insomnia with her dark thoughts spiraling. "I remember moving to the couch in my living room and pulling the shades up in case I were to die, because I really felt like something was happening, that they would be able to look in the window and see. It's really grim and it's really horrible, but that's where you have to go, unfortunately, for things to turn around."

Call eventually summoned the energy to drive herself to the hospital, believing she was having an episode of depression that needed to be treated. "I get to the triage desk, and I said, 'I think I am depressed.' They said, 'Do you want to kill yourself? and I said, 'No,' and then they're like, 'What are your symptoms?' 'I cant sleep… Oh! When I was driving I was hallucinating and I saw stop signs that weren't there.' So immediately they triaged me as going through alcohol withdrawal."

Call spent five days in inpatient detox, where she received life-saving care but wasn't given much insight into her condition. "They don't care about what's happening in your life during those five days—all they care about is cleaning your body and putting you back on the street. They're there to keep you alive. It's very medical."

After leaving treatment, Call was unsure how to proceed with her newly-diagnosed addiction. Her therapist suggested Alcoholics Anonymous, but she was reluctant at first. "I was like, 'Ugh! Coffee! Eww! Old people! Ick! Church basements!' And then I remember my therapist saying, 'You have nothing to lose, and you're obviously really lonely, and you could meet some really cool people.'"

Call attended meetings as she got her life on track but ultimately did not stick with the program, something she still expresses regret over. "I went to AA, but like the true slacker that I am, I didn't stick with it. I didn't get a sponsor, I didn't follow any of the steps. I read stuff and I was like, 'That's really profound.' It made sense but I didn't commit and I'm very ashamed of that." Still, she says that she's so disgusted by her past behavior that the idea of drinking makes her nauseated, which has kept her mostly on track.

Call has faltered in her sobriety; unlike many reality stars, she didn't deny her relapse and instead made it a part of her storyline on the first season of Little Women: New York. After Call has a few glasses of wine and drunkenly texts her friend Kristy, a star of Little Women: LA who is also in recovery, Kristy holds an intervention for Call, confronting her on drinking and taking pills. "I wanted to smack the shit out of Kristy because, at the time, I felt like it wasn't a relapse that counted, but now that I forgive her, I know it was." The intervention was a turning point for Call, who has now been without a drink for more than a year.

Showcasing her story on reality television comes with its own complications, however. Reality TV is a format that both encourages and requires drama in order to be watchable, and Call is quick to admit that she excels at entertaining audiences this way. She also admits that her behavior has impacted how she views her sobriety, and that some in AA might consider her a "dry drunk." Call tells me, "A lot of people would argue because of outrageous behavior and drama and theatrics that I am still in need of maturity, and it could be alcohol-related. What I say to those people is, 'Thank god I'm alive right now, and thank god for whatever works for you, and maybe you're right, and maybe I'm still just in a very selfish place. But I'll figure it out.'"

Call is also challenged by her Little Women co-stars drinking, another hallmark of reality television. "People who drink around people who aren't drinking don't get that they're not fun to be around. It's just not fun all the time. It's just like, Why can't we just make friendship bracelets? Why do we need to have booze?" She's annoyed by all the occasions that seem to require alcohol in order to be enjoyable, including her roommate Jason's coming-out party. "It's like, 'Okay Jason, you're gay. Did we have to have alcohol for that?' We could have just sat and played a board game. It's annoying."

But being on reality TV isn't the only challenge that Call faces in her sobriety; being a little person also creates its own unique set of complications. A representative from Little People of America, who consulted with the organization's board of doctors and specialists, told me there is no direct link between being a little person and addiction. However, there are special risk factors that are a part of many little people's experiences that can make them more vulnerable to addiction. "We don't know much about the prevalence of addiction specifically in individuals with restricted growth," says Dr. Omar Manejwala, a leading expert on addiction, "but we do know that bullying, social isolation, and chronic pain is prevalent in that community, and those are risk factors for the development of addiction."

Call agrees with this assessment. "As far as the little people community, I think it's a culture within a culture. So there's a percentage of your addicts, there's a percentage of your overachievers. I suspect that within our population, there are also people who are lonely, and they ban this loneliness with whatever way they can—with medication, with escaping, with yoga." Little people often undergo multiple surgeries to deal with their condition, and that chronic pain makes them more vulnerable to abusing drugs and alcohol. "Things are a little tricky with little people when surgery is no longer an option, and you have to deal with things chemically. But I think that happens with the general population as well."

I ask Call how she feels being a little person has impacted her sobriety. "The odds are not in our favor, health-wise," she tells me. "You need to be able to go into any quick surgery without going into some sort of alcohol shock or renal failure. I'm pre-surgery right now, and I'm going to be having a procedure soon that's quite common [for little people] and that comes with the territory. To be able to check the box that says 'Do you drink?' and say 'No' is wonderful."