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David Bromstad revealed that he went to a treatment center while filming his new HGTV special, which premieres on Friday, December 19th.
According to a clip from “My Lottry Dream Home: David’s Happy Ending” shared by People, the HGTV star said he struggled with substance abuse after his dream home in Florida was destroyed in a storm while he was renovating it. As a designer, he said, he didn’t realize how intertwined his home was with his own mental health.
“I engaged in some unhealthy behaviors, and it’s really easy to go there when you’re struggling,” Bromstad said. “I knew I was in trouble.”
“I think everything stopped, my home, my place, emotionally, physically, mentally, psychologically. I was literally crying out for help.”
How was David Bromstad’s house destroyed?
Bromstad, 52, said extreme water damage, flooding and excessive mold destroyed her “childhood dream” home and forced her to start from scratch. Recognizing the toll this devastation had taken on his mental health, he decided he had to address his own personal struggles.
“I decided it was time. I needed to put my house on hold and participate in some kind of program,” he said. “We need to talk. We need to crawl out of this hole. We need to understand why we got into it in the first place.”
He explained that the house was meant to help him heal from his own traumas, including bullying, depression, and growing up as a closeted queer teenager.
“I was just this much gay, this much perfect, and it wasn’t celebrated and I was looked at differently at the time,” he added. “I was extremely depressed. I was extremely bullied. So idealizing my childhood was a beautiful, perfect defense for me. It saved me.”
Bromstad confirmed he was sober in an Instagram post in August 2023 after traveling to Norway to celebrate his 50th birthday, during which he climbed 2,000 steps up Mount Rheinbringen in the Lofoten Islands.
“It has given me intense clarity to let these moments pass and lay the foundation! It feels good to be sober now and living the life I was meant to live,” he wrote.
