Jacek Poniedzialek – one of the most recognized Polish theater and film actors, publishes a moving testimony of recovering from addictions. “(NIE) DZIENNIK” is not only an account of life in an artistic environment full of drugs, alcohol and casual sex, interspersed with descriptions of a stay in a drug rehabilitation center. It is also an attempt to face the past, a touching story about growing up in extremely difficult conditions, discovering your identity, about social advancement, the price of being a public figure and, finally, forgiveness.

He often played with an overwhelming hangover, sometimes he was under the influence. In the book, he describes how one of the away performances was canceled in an atmosphere of scandal because the actor was unable to go on stage. Rarely, the banquet after the premiere did not end with a broken movie. The idea to record life events arose while working on one of the performances. The diary, initially kept only for the purpose of building the role, turned out to be a kind of sobering up for the actor. The distance allowed him to see in himself a man lost in the incessant whirlwind of events, casual acquaintances, constantly trying to run away from something. This book saved my life – the actor admits in interviews.

A year has passed since Jacek Poniedzialek made a decision to live sober and went into rehab, the course of which closes the diary written in the previous months. The story between New York, Mexico, Warsaw and Krakow is intertwined with the accounts of the actor’s work in a drug rehabilitation center. Sobering up gives the actor an opportunity to face his past – in his book, Monday returns to his painful childhood, settles accounts with shame related to his origins and poverty, and a sense of injustice. It is a story of a boy from a small town who has achieved an unimaginable social advancement. Success, however, brings with it enormous pressure, which only grows with time, when there is more and more to lose. It is also a story about the search for love, about accepting the passing – old age which, to the actor’s surprise, brings with it freedom.

Despite the extremely difficult topics that the actor takes up in “(NIE) DZIENNIK”, it is still a story full of sharp humor, bringing hope and giving courage. It is important, because it shows that the fight against addiction – a disease that is still being made an unhealthy sensation today, should be a reason for pride, not shame.