Actor Tom Pelphrey recently marked 12 years of sobriety, revealing how his faith, family and the profound experience of fatherhood have utterly transformed his life and understanding.
Forty-four-year-old American actor Tom Pelphrey is known for his roles as Jonathan Randall on the CBS television series “Guiding Light,” Mick Dante on “As the World Turns” and Robbie Prendergast in the HBO series “Task,” but recently he shared how God and sobriety changed his life.
On Monday evening, Pelphrey thanked God for 12 years of sobriety. Though raised Catholic, it wasn’t until recently that faith became a “huge part” of his support system.
“I thank God for my life and my sobriety. I thank my family and my friends for all your love and support all these years,” he said.
Beyond giving God credit, Pelphrey has noted that Christ hasn’t just helped him maintain sobriety but has also inspired his new four-part podcast, The Christ, which was released earlier this year.
According to Yahoo News, he also thanked his “very pregnant” fiancée, Kaley Cuoco, best known for her role as Penny on the sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory,” during his acceptance speech for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 2026 Emmy Awards.
Besides the Lord and his fiancée, Pelphrey, who has a daughter with Cuoco, with another little one on the way, believes that parenthood has shaped him into the man he is today. In an earlier interview with CBN News, he mentioned that becoming a father has changed the way he sees and relates to the gospel and the Lord’s love for us.
“To read some of the gospel through the eyes I have now as a father and the heart I have now as a father is truly illuminating,” he told CBN News. “I mean, that really starts to unfold and clarify so much because I know how I feel about my daughter, and I love her more than anything. And then I try and think, how does He loves us? And you know again, me a very imperfect, flawed human being has these incredible feelings, and would do anything for her. And if I’m capable of that, how does He love us?”
Before meeting God and his soon-to-be wife, Pelphrey was knee-deep in his battle with alcoholism. Calling his recovery a “miracle,” he added it was only “truly by the grace of God” that he was freed from “that obsession.”
In the interview with CBN, Tom acknowledged that there were things he had to do, work that he had to put in as well, but he says that God’s hand was most definitely at work in helping to free him from alcoholism.
“But the obsession was lifted,” he said. “And that wasn’t because I was so disciplined. It wasn’t because I’m smarter. It wasn’t because I’m really good. It wasn’t because I deserved it. It was because I was in pain and scared, and I asked and He took it. That’s grace. That’s mercy.”
Photo Credit: ©Trae Patton/NBC via Getty Images
Originally published September 24, 2026.
