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Jack Buster”Blurred Lines” singer Robin Thicke has a lot to be thankful for, especially when he looks back at his “darkest days” when he was dependent on drugs and alcohol.
Appearing Monday on Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert podcast, the singer — who is now sober — didn’t mince words about his past struggles with addiction.
Thicke, 44, said his substance abuse spiraled out of control after the sudden deaths of his father Alan Thicke and manager Jordan Feldstein, followed by losing his home in a fire within the span of two years.
“Just everything at the same time all hit the wall,” the singer described.
“I was in good control of my faculties. I was a beer and a glass of wine kinda guy. It wasn’t until the touring and partying and the lifestyle. You just think you can manage it all,” said Thicke. “You think you can keep going at that pace. And then your habits catch up with you.”
Thicke also expressed he became addicted to painkillers when he began having problems with his back, which “became a bad habit.”
Shepard, who recently confessed to falling off the wagon after over a decade of sobriety, connected with Thicke’s analysis about painkillers and added, “Opiates have the illusion of being manageable, don’t they?”
“And the illusion of normalcy. Some form of normalcy,” the Masked Singer judge replied. “You don’t have to hide in the bathroom. You’re not falling down or slurring your words. It’s not on your breath. You can’t necessarily see it in the eyes.”
He says another major loss, the 2020 death of his mentor Andre Harrell, is what finally snapped him out of the downward spiral and inspired him to “change my life.”
“I lost myself,” the Grammy nominee confessed. “I don’t want to be that person ever again.”
By Megan Stone
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