This month, I am celebrating some phenomenal women and their accomplishments on my platform, and author Maria Roberts definitely deserves her spot as one of those women.
Celebrating 15 years of recovery from active addiction on December 1, 2021, Maria personifies hope, strength, and faith for many who struggle. Her story also proves that drug addiction can happen to anyone from any background. During a recent interview with Authority Magazine, author Maria Roberts shared that she used drugs to numb the pain of her father’s death. As a daddy’s girl, the loss of her father was devastating, leaving her to feel hopeless and alone. She was first introduced to drugs when she was modeling, and her father’s death caused her to return to what was familiar.
In her book, My Downward Spiral to Freedom, she shares in full disclosure that at her lowest point, she was homeless and funded her drug habit by prostitution. She tried to stop using numerous times, but drugs always won. Maria tells readers about her journey to freedom — from being beaten, kidnapped, and thrown out of a car to being held at gunpoint, raped, and more. She even explains how jail was once a source of freedom to her until she was able to break free from active drug addiction. She credits God’s protection for her survival.
What has been the response for My Downward Spiral to Freedom?
- “This book is amazing! It is honest, raw, and inspiring. It gives you a much-needed insight into the struggles of those with addiction, and it highlights her triumphant rise from the ashes.”
- “This book opened my eyes to what crack addiction really looks like, upfront and personal.”
- “I love the fact anyone who is fighting some personal struggles will find through this personal account that it’s never too late and it is possible to overcome anything!”
Statistics point to the need for stories like Maria’s, especially in minority communities. The pandemic has resulted in isolation becoming a way of life. The rate of relapse of clean addicts back to active addiction is at an all-time high, especially in the black community. The black community suffers the most from the scarcity of resources for recovery and addiction.
Author Maria Roberts is on a mission to bring awareness to the real struggles of those suffering from substance abuse and addiction and those who love them. She uses her best-selling book, My Downward Spiral to Freedom, A Believer’s Journey from Addiction to Serenity, to remind her audience how important it is to fight for our freedom from drugs and substance abuse. Follow this remarkable woman and author on Instagram @hopedealer_2006, and thehopedealer.net.
Penny Bauder, “Author Maria Roberts on How to Achieve Great Success after Recovering from an Addiction,”
Medium (Authority Magazine, November 18, 2021),
an-addiction-6aafe51da94f.
Alesha Brown, CEO, Fruition Publishing Concierge Services™
Editor-in-Chief, Published! Magazine™
Award-Winning Entrepreneur|Publisher|Transformational Speaker
