Struggling with her smoking habit wasn’t easy for retired trucker Brenda Hawkins.

Retired trucker Brenda Hawkins met with her 15 minutes of fame when she joined the cast of Cold Turkey 2, a reality show on PAX TV.

The Cold Turkey series involves its contestants going cold turkey and quitting their smoking habits. For Hawkins, this proved to be especially difficult, as she had been a smoker for 44 years when the series filmed.

Cast members were told they were going to be a part of a Survivor-like reality show, complete with mountain climbing and braving the wilderness, but after a few days of roughing it, the truth came out. Contestants on Cold Turkey 2 were then told to put down the cigarettes and kick the habit. The show can be viewed on the PAX network in April.

Hawkins, 61, a resident of Blue Springs, Mo., got into truck driving after her fourth husband Bennie – who she calls her true soul mate – told her he wanted them to hit the road together.

“Bennie told me I had two choices,” Hawkins says. “I could be a driver or be his navigator, and I did both.”