Mary Cosby’s son, Robert Cosby Jr. gave viewers a candid update on the “scary” difficulties he’s faced after completing a 30-day rehab program.
Robert Jr. opened up to Mary in a raw heart-to-heart on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 6, Episode 2, admitting to her that he felt like he was “at a standstill” in his recovery journey.
“I’m not in that dark place, but, like, it’s still there, if that makes sense,” Robert Jr. explained. “I just didn’t expect it to be like this. … You have to change who you are as a person. Like, you’re so used to doing something you do every day and it’s a ritual. And then, you just come back home to where you used to do that ritual and you’re not doing it anymore.”
The 22-year-old said he’d been “isolating a lot,” especially after he stopped hanging out with the friends that he “was partying with,” before entering treatment. As he confessed to Mary, that led him to begin “getting that stimuli from unhealthy sources.”
RELATED: Mary Cosby Shares an Update on Son Robert Jr.’s Sobriety Journey
“I’m still beating myself up ’cause I’m still, you know… I’m not completely off and perfect,” Robert Jr. added.
Inside Mary Cosby’s reaction to Robert Jr.’s sobriety struggles
Mary, meanwhile, encouraged Robert Jr. to “walk out of” the darkness and to “retrain” his mindset. Even though she didn’t want him to ever “feel isolated,” she supported his decision to cut off anybody who might jeopardize his recovery.
“I also want you to understand why it’s necessary to isolate yourself from the people that you bonded with over drugs,” she elaborated. “Sometimes, you’re trying to go up a step or your life is elevating, and the people that are with you are not. They’re pulling you down.”
Mary continued, “Every day is not easy, and I know you have to take life day by day. Sometimes you fall, but you get back up. … We’re fighters. We fight.”
RELATED: Mary Cosby Shares a Tearful Update on Her Son Robert Jr.’s Sobriety Journey
In a confessional, Mary admitted, “This knocks the wind out of me,” adding, “I feel like his whole life, I’ve always been that helicopter mom. And I feel like that drove him to be, like, not wanting to let me down, so not telling me the truth. And I felt like it’s actually changed me to back off and let him see that I trust that he’s going to make the right decision. Because it’s like you have to do it; we can’t do it for you.”
As she concluded her heartfelt chat with Robert Jr., “You can’t save anybody that doesn’t wanna be saved. You can only save yourself, you know?”
How Robert Cosby Sr. helped Mary navigate Robert Jr.’s recovery
Earlier on RHOSLC‘s Sept. 23 episode, Whitney Rose asked Mary how Robert Jr. was doing, as they sat around a campfire on the last morning of the cast’s RV trip.
“Um, he’s doing as well as he can be doing,” Mary replied. “He’s taking it day by day. He’s trying. He has highs and lows. Some days he’s good, some days he’s not, you know?”
She went on to detail how her husband, Robert Cosby Sr., had been instrumental in helping her navigate their son’s emotional recovery journey.
“I didn’t have a support system with him. I just had Robert Sr. I just have one,” Mary told her castmates. “I couldn’t have done it without Robert Sr. I couldn’t have done it at all.”
As she further shared with a producer, “When Robert Jr. got home [from rehab], we had a talk with him and Robert Sr. told him, ‘We cannot babysit you. You have the tools, and you know what you need to do.’ So, we, like, made a pact that we would take one day at a time, and we’re letting him figure it out. And that’s how I deal with him.”
As she continues to support her son, don’t miss what else Mary recently revealed about Robert Jr.’s sobriety journey.