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Adelle Onyango reveals how her father’s drinking made her hypervigilant
02nd June, 2026 08:11 PM
Media personality Adelle Onyango has opened up about how her father’s drinking habits shaped her childhood and contributed to her becoming hypervigilant.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, she explained that growing up around alcohol-related behaviour changes forced her to constantly observe and anticipate situations. According to Adelle, the experience had both positive and negative effects on her life.
“I have my dad to thank for my hypervigilance,” Adelle Onyango said.
She explained that she still struggles to decide whether hypervigilance has been a blessing or a burden. Adelle said there have been moments when it helped protect her and other times when it was unnecessary. Despite that, she believes it developed because of the environment she experienced as a child.
“I don’t know if it’s a curse or a gift because there are moments it has saved me and there are moments it just wasn’t needed,” Adelle Onyango said.
Adelle recalled closely watching how alcohol affected her father’s behaviour. She explained that she learned to pay attention to the changes in his mood and actions whenever he drank. Over time, she became skilled at noticing the signs before things changed.
Learning to recognise the signs
She said repeated exposure to those experiences sharpened her ability to observe people and situations. According to Adelle, the more often she witnessed those changes, the better she became at recognising them. She explained that she could tell when a shift was about to happen.
“Everything you practice, you get better at, and so the more he drank, the better I got at monitoring. I could see the switch happen in his eyes,” Adelle Onyango said.
Adelle also reflected on her father’s personality outside of alcohol. She explained that she often wondered how someone she enjoyed being around could become completely different after drinking. She added that she was glad her mother eventually left him.
“He was disruptive, and I’m glad my mother left him, but I always wondered how someone who, without the alcohol, was such a joy to be around, could then progressively become a monster with every beer or whiskey,” Adelle Onyango said.
As she grew older, Adelle said she developed a deeper understanding of the situation. She explained that she learned it was possible to care about someone while still holding them accountable for their actions. She also shared that during her university years, she experimented with alcohol herself.
“Like many uni students, I drank a considerable amount of alcohol in my freshman & sophomore years. I experimented with cocktails, I tried cheap liquor and expensive shit. I took shots and more shots. I foolishly mixed shots with energy drinks. I liked the high; I liked how liberated I felt. I liked how happy I got. And I made some great memories during this time,” Adelle Onyango said.
