Sam Buttery on Therapy, Sobriety & Having A Shameless Drive

The Pieces with Bimini

Tuesday, 5 May 2026 - 45 minutes

Sam Buttery is a drag performer, comedian, writer and actor whose sharp wit and unapologetic honesty have made her a beloved figure in the UK queer scene.

From scene-stealing turns on stage to unforgettable vocal performances, Sam has built a reputation as one of the most distinctive and dynamic performers in UK theatre. Most recently, Sam has starred in Netflix's KAOS, the London Palladium production of The Addams Family Musical and the Sheffield Crucible production of Little Shop of Horrors.

Sam has built a reputation for her advocacy for mental health and addiction recovery, turning personal struggle into powerful performance. Much of her work centres queer stories with humour, heart and unflinching truth.

Beyond the stage, Sam is nearly six years sober and uses her platform to support others navigating addiction, mental health and gender identity — all while maintaining the shameless drive and delusions of grandeur that got her out of Tamworth in the first place.

On this episode of The Pieces, Bimini and Sam dive into the formative moments that shaped who she is today: therapy and sobriety. They discuss how she didn't realise she was trans until she stopped drinking nearly six years ago, why good mental health support was necessary before positive thinking could begin, and how childhood gender dysphoria felt like just "feeling weird" without the language to name it.

The conversation touches on the complexity of sleeping with people whose politics are abhorrent, shameless drive as something that confronts people who want you to stay in your place and imagining different parts of yourself at different ages in therapy.

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