**This article contains mentions of drug and alcohol addiction and self-harm**
A&E’s Intervention is a hard-hitting show about addiction–with so many films centered around drugs, fans can easily forget the reality of it. The show has witnessed some intense addictions to things as seemingly innocuous as shopping and gaming, to lethal addictions like fentanyl, alcohol, heroin, or meth.
When the participants accept the treatment that the show offers, the audience never knows if they will stick to their sobriety. The show gives a short update at the end, but season 1 aired back in 2005, so many fans of the show may be wonder: how are they all doing now?
Alyson Markoff: Season 1, Episode 1
Alyson was the very first person that the show featured. She was actively addicted to crack, morphine, and marijuana. Most notably, she stole money from her ailing father in order to purchase more drugs. It was a heartbreaking episode and she truly needed help.
Sadly, Alyson’s father passed away in 2007. One user on the Intervention Directory said that they found a blog that Alyson had written that talked about her Bipolar diagnosis and what it meant, but no link could be found. Alyson was very active and shared a ton of the amazing thriller novels on the site Goodreads as recently as 2019, and is still active on Facebook, seemingly doing well and spreading awareness about schizoaffective conditions.
Vanessa Marquez: Season 1, Episode 2
Vanessa was a fairly successful actress–die-hard fans of ER may know that she was actually on the show. She had a shopping addiction that put her in debt, and also dealt with agoraphobia. She had no family present at her intervention, which was an oddity for the show.
Even though her YouTube channel showed her doing better in 2018, she continued to struggle with seizures in conjunction with her other problems. A wellness check was called on her during an episode, and she was shot and killed by police when she walked outside brandishing a BB gun.
Tamela Turtle: Season 1, Episode 3
In one of the most graphic episodes in the history of Intervention, Tamela suffered from extreme self-harm addiction. Her family wanted to “pray away” her addiction in the episode, and when they finally admitted that their willful ignorance of her addiction was wrong, Tamela accepted treatment.
Most information about Tamela since her episode is speculative and based on fans who claim they have intel on her. Several mentions of the same update have more validity, saying that she is now happily married and had a son in 2012 and a daughter in 2014. Although her Facebook hasn’t been active since 2011, there was a video of her playing guitar and looking well uploaded to YouTube in 2018.
Brian Bellamore: Season 1, Episode 4
Brian was an admitted sex and meth addict. He would walk around the streets nightly looking for new sex partners in his Vermont town. Like many musicians have talked about in their music videos about mental health, Brian struggled with his sexuality and the disapproval of his family, which contributed to his addictions.
A man named Matthew, who cited that he knew and briefly dated Brian, shared that he had been arrested for meth-trafficking after the show and had been to rehab several times. Eventually, Brian was able to get sober but sadly passed away after a complication during surgery for a skin infection.
Sara Hejny-Waldon: Season 1, Episode 5
Another meth user featured on the show was Sara. She became addicted to crystal meth after a messy divorce. During her episode, her addiction was tearing apart her family and she was dealing with the loss of custody of her daughter.
Thankfully, Sara accepted treatment and turned her life around. She was featured on an A&E “Legacy Update” special, in which she was celebrating 10 years of sobriety. She revealed that she had a long-time partner, Greg, and a new son as well as a relationship with her daughter. She even became a meth educator for the Ramsey Sheriff’s Dept. and was featured in an article for Press.
Travis Meeks: Season 1, Episode 6
Travis, like Sara, was battling an addiction to crystal meth as well. He was in a fairly successful band called Days Of The New and they even toured with the legendary rock band Metallica, at one point, but his drug addiction took over his life.
Sadly, Travis was not as successful in his treatment as his costar, Sara. He was in and out of rehab repeatedly over the years and was arrested several times–most recently in 2020. He has been looking very gaunt and fans of the show believe it may be because of another relapse with crystal meth.
Peter Ogden: Season 1, Episode 7
Like Vanessa, Peter’s addiction had more to do with activity than a controlled substance. He was suffering from a video game addiction and even once played Dance Dance Revolution for over 24 hours straight. He referred to characters in his games as his friends and faced complicated relationships with his mother and girlfriend.
Marcy Lily, on the Intervention Directory blog, claims that Rachel, his girlfriend, had several restraining orders against her for stalking before she and Peter eventually broke up and he filed one as well. According to Peter’s Facebook, he now has two children who he loves dearly and posts inspirational and positive messages to his page.
Tina Sopher: Season 1, Episode 8
Tina was dealing with several addictions in her episode. In addition to gambling on things like horse racing and casinos, she also abused Vicodin. Notably, she brought her 3-year-old son to the horse track with her and had a marriage that was hanging on by a string.
Apparently, though, Tina wasn’t the only one contributing to her marital problems. In a surprising turn of events, Tina commented on her own listing on the Intervention Directory to update fans. She shared that Harley, her now ex-husband, had repeatedly cheated on her. Her son, Pooh Bear–whose name is reminiscent of the best Winnie The Pooh character–graduated high school. According to her Facebook, however, she was recently hospitalized with what appears to be COVID.
Christine Alvarez: Season 1, Episode 9
Christine was the first alcohol addiction that the show featured. She was highly addicted to consuming beer from the moment she woke up to the moment she went to sleep. She even drank while at work. Although she was in deep denial about her problem, she repeatedly had cries for help and admitted to trying treatment in the past, and it “not working.”
Like Tina, Christine found her page on the Intervention Directory and commented updates for those who were curious. She shared that she did relapse after the show and was addicted for six more years before finally committing to recovery. In addition to her son, she now has a daughter as well, and she and her husband are still together.
Kelly Franklin: Season 1, Episode 10
Kelly’s episode was very polarizing for fans. Some thought Kelly, a heavy drinker with an IQ of 160 who chose to live on the streets, was a smart aleck who threw his life away to avoid having to follow rules. Others thought that his family never made an effort with his later diagnosed learning disabilities and set him up for failure. He, memorably, admitted that he did not want to stop drinking or change his homelessness status, so recovery looked unlikely at the end of his intervention.
The jury seems to be out on exactly how Kelly is doing. An official update is that he was the best man at the wedding of his brother, Keith Coogan. He also seemed to look healthier in the Facebook photos of the wedding. Some fans on the Intervention Directory have said that they’ve seen him in SoCal on the streets, while another, last year, said that he was pursuing a degree and has been sober for 10 years after losing half of his liver to alcoholism.
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