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August Alsina reveals Jada Pinkett Smith saved him from drug, alcohol and pill addiction

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Joseph Okpako/WireImageAugust Alsina has been absent from the music scene for over a year as he battled drug, alcohol and pill addiction, and he revealed that he was saved by Jada Pinkett Smith.

“You called me and like literally broke down about it,” the singer said on Smith’s Facebook show, Red Table Talk. “That was really a reality check for me because I was like, wow, if someone else can love you that much that it hurts them, why doesn’t it bother you that you’re actually hurting yourself.”

After winning two BET Awards, Alsina’s; career was taking off, then it came to a crashing halt in September 2014 when he fell off stage during a concert in New York City.

“I was drinking so much liquor, smoking so much weed, and just one night at a show in New York I literally passed out and like in the middle of a show and fell off the stage,” Alsina remembered. Smith added, “And it was a pretty serious accident because you went into convulsions.” Alsina interjected, “And I was in a coma for three days.”

Alsina suffered from liver disease and was losing his eyesight. He coped with the pain by taking Percocet, and then became addicted to the drug.

”I literally had an endless supplies of Percs,” Alsina recalls. “I was literally raining pills like Skittles for real.”

Smith remembers that Alsina was in denial.

“He said, ‘I’m not addicted.’ He said. ‘I’m not an addict.’”

“Well, I didn’t believe I was,” Alsina added.

“Right,” Smith said, “cause I said, ‘He’s hiding pills in his socks.’”

Now with Smith’s support, Alsina is on the road to recovery.

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