Green Party candidate Hayley Holt spoke to TVNZ's Sunday programme about her past as a heavy drinker
Hayley Holt has revealed she would get "hands-on" when she got drunk, sometimes kicking and practicing boxing moves on other people.
"I'd hate to say violent but I used to kick people and think it was really funny," Holt, a Green Party candidate at this year's election, told last night'sepisode of Sunday.
"I would try out my boxing moves on people."
The 35-year-old also revealed her drinking became such a big issue that friends stopped inviting her to parties.
"One of my best friends said, 'I love you Hayley but I don't want to hang out with you when you're drinking'."
She told Sunday she drank heavily throughout her 20s to "keep up with the boys".
"It was almost, when I was young, a source of pride, (an) 'I can keep up with the boys' mentality," she said.
"I remember doing funnels at parties and thinking that that was really cool, and that I was tough, and I was just like the boys, I could drink just as much and I could be just as raucus."
Holt had previously revealed her issues with alcohol in an in-depth interview with Canvas, telling the Herald publication her biggest low was failing an on-air drug test and being suspended from her radio job.
She told Sunday that despite being sober for two-and-a-half years, "I'm an alcoholic and I go to AA meetings because it's the only way I know I'm going to be able to stay sober".
Since getting sober, she said the changes had been "huge" and her only hopes for the future were that "I'm happy and I've got real relationships and I'm sober".
On the Green Party website, Holt says she wants to "use my voice to bring attention to what we stand for".
