Answer Addiction

Tag: pop stars

  • Ellie Goulding Describes Using Alcohol To Cope With Early Fame

    Ellie Goulding Describes Using Alcohol To Cope With Early Fame

    “I assumed I couldn’t be good enough, smart, funny, or crazy enough to be with certain people without it.”

    Ellie Goulding opened up about the way she used alcohol to cope during the start of her career on a recent episode of Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast.

    “I would say, ‘Right, I’ve got to drink this morning because I’ve got this interview and I don’t really know how to answer the questions, because I don’t really know who I am any more,’” the 32-year-old explained.

    Dealing With Fame

    Goulding rose to fame in 2010 with the release of her debut album, Lights. The album debuted at number one on the UK charts and the “Under the Sheets” singer went from a relative unknown to one of the biggest pop stars across the pond.

    The mounting pressure took its toll on the singer who began to use alcohol to bolster her famous persona.

    “I thought drinking would at least make me a bit more funny, or interesting,” Goulding said. “I had to be a fake person to deal with the surreal situation I was in. I assumed I couldn’t be good enough, smart, funny, or crazy enough to be with certain people without it.”

    While Goulding acknowledges the role that alcohol played in her life at the time, she maintains that she was not addicted to it.

    “I wasn’t an alcoholic,” she said. “I could go months without a drink, too.”

    Panic Attacks & Anxiety

    Goulding has been about the pressures of fame before. In 2017, she penned an essay for Well + Good chronicling the mental health struggles she faced as her fame began to rise.

    “I was thrilled, of course—sharing my music with the world was a dream I’d been working toward for years—but it was a lot all at once,” Goulding writes. “Suddenly I was living alone in London, and everything was happening so fast.”

    The life-altering experience brought on panic attacks for the singer. “The scariest part was it could be triggered by anything,” Goulding writes. “My new life as a pop star certainly wasn’t as glamorous as all my friends from home thought. Secretly I was really struggling physically and emotionally.”

    Goulding shares that the combination of a lack of self-confidence and the intense pressures of her career led to her mental health battles. “I think part of what sparked my panic attacks was not feeling confident enough to believe in myself—I was scared I wasn’t as good of a singer as everyone thought I was,” she writes. “And as the stakes grew, I was afraid of letting everyone, including myself, down.”

    Even performing was a struggle, she revealed, citing her performance at the 2016 Grammy Awards. Eventually, though, Goulding realized that she had to find confidence within herself in order to move forward. “I was annoyed for being paralyzed with nerves every time I was about to perform on television. I told myself that this was exactly where I was supposed to be and if other people believed in me, I had to start believing in myself,” she writes.

     

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Liam Payne Drank Heavily To Deal With One Direction Fame

    Liam Payne Drank Heavily To Deal With One Direction Fame

    “I used to get off stage, high off the endorphins and get horrendously drunk, get up at five in the afternoon and do it all again.”

    One Direction, the wildly popular boy band from the UK, first gained fame from performing on The X Factor in 2010. They then scored their first number one single a year later. Years of fame and success followed, but as former 1D member Liam Payne recalls, the sudden rise to pop stardom “nearly killed” him before he cleaned up his act.

    As Payne explained on Table Manners with Jessie Ware podcast, “I went through a stage in the band when I was drinking really heavily—I put weight on and didn’t notice,” to the point where he was called the “fat one” in One Direction.

    “I was just really drunk every day… I used to just get wasted and say whatever I wanted. Our schedule time was just a mess, I used to get off stage, high off the endorphins and get horrendously drunk, get up at five in the afternoon and do it all again.”

    Reality Check

    The singer added, “I didn’t see what was looking back at me in the mirror.” It wasn’t until he saw an unflattering paparazzi picture of himself that he decided he needed to get help.

    “I was surprised I’d become that guy,” he says. “It was worth it to make me realize what life’s made of.”

    Payne ultimately realized, “You’re either gonna end up a crazy child star who dies at whatever age or you’re gonna live, laugh and actually get on with it properly.”

    It’s been hard for Payne to adjust to life post-stardom, but he says, “I needed to stop, definitely. It would have killed me. One hundred percent. I literally spent the last two years of this, in and out of doing the music, trying to learn to be a person, if that makes sense.”

    Life After One Direction

    In recent years, Payne has talked openly about his mental health struggles as a famous pop star. It was hard to hit the stage for hundreds of concerts when he didn’t feel good, and as he told Men’s Health Australia, “It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage. I was pissed (drunk) quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Backstreet Boy AJ McLean Discusses Addiction, Sobriety

    Backstreet Boy AJ McLean Discusses Addiction, Sobriety

    “To be 41 and still be sitting here talking to you is a miracle within itself.”

    Boy band legends Backstreet Boys are back with a new album, DNA, a new tour in support of it, and a Grammy nomination for the single “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”

    As the band looks back on their career, AJ McLean is also looking back on the substance abuse they’ve suffered in the past.

    As he told NPR, “I just turned 41. To be 41 and still be sitting here talking to you is a miracle within itself. With drugs and alcohol and all these things that I’ve had to overcome will forever be a daily struggle.”

    McLean has been open with the public about his struggles for years, adding, “We’ve always prided ourselves on just being honest with our fans and being honest with each other. That is probably one of the biggest reasons why we’ve been together for almost 26 years. We’re family, we’ve seen the highs and lows with each other…We’ve literally lived lives together – good, bad or indifferent.”

    McLean has taken trips to rehab in 2001, 2002 and 2011 for depression and alcoholism, and he admitted to relapsing in 2018. As he told People, “It’s no secret that this is a disease, and that it’s a daily struggle…It will win if you don’t take care of yourself.”

    McLean also renewed his fight to stay sober after the overdose death of rapper Mac Miller last year. “With what recently happened with Mac Miller, people need to really understand how serious addiction is. It’s a huge killer and you’ve just got to surround yourself with the right people, go to your meetings and get a sponsor. It’s a marathon, not a race.”

    Like many who’ve struggled with addiction, McLean’s family has also been a big saving grace for him in his recovery. “They’re my everything,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “Them and my wife. So, I would never in a million years want to let them see me drunk or high or dead or in jail. I want to talk both my girls down the aisle…when they’re 35!”

    McLean also posted on Instagram that he’s going to be cutting down on social media, which he says can be “overconsuming.” Again, family has been McLean’s focus, not allowing “social media [to] control me and my time – my valuable time with my kids especially.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ellie Goulding Talks "Miserable" Exercise Addiction

    Ellie Goulding Talks "Miserable" Exercise Addiction

    The pop star touched on exercise addiction in a recent Instagram post.

    Singer Ellie Goulding addressed her experience with dependency on exercise, which she described as “not worth it.” 

    In a recent Instagram post, the Grammy-nominated singer shared a photo of herself, which was accompanied by text that in part read, “Ah good #memories of being addicted to the gym. Not worth it . . .” 

    Goulding, who has also struggled with panic attacks, said that while she continues to maintain an exercise regimen, she approaches it in an entirely different manner that encompasses boxing. 

    Goulding, whose most recent solo recording was the Top 20 UK single “Still Falling for You,” clarified what she meant about her previous exercise routine by adding, “It was just kind of miserable.” 

    According to a study by Northwestern University, approximately 3% of people who exercise on a regular basis have a dependency on exercise, which can be defined by physical or psychological symptoms like depression, anger or confusion brought on by missing a single day of exercise.

    In coverage of Goulding’s post Bustle cited Heather Hausenblas, a professor at Jacksonville University’s department of kinesiology, who noted that regular or even advanced levels of exercise don’t indicate an addiction to exercise.

    Rather, it’s the feelings that arise as a result of breaking the routine and the drive for people to change their lives in order to work out and quash those feelings that qualifies as a dependency.

    Goulding has mentioned that in the past, intense emotions have driven her to seek solace in music. “It was the ultimate companion – the strongest remedy for any kind of pain or sadness,” she said. “Often it was the only way I’d be able to say what I wanted to say or describe how I was feeling.”

    Exercise also became a means of contending with difficult emotions, including anxiety and panic attacks. But after a period of intensity – “I used to be harder on myself,” she told The CUT in 2018 – she has become better educated on healthy practices and feels “more confident than ever now, which is an amazing feeling.”

    “To work out is being respectful to your body,” noted Goulding. “It’s a way of paying back and saying thank you for keeping me alive and for giving me such an amazing opportunity to live and breathe.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ashley Tisdale Reveals Depression & Anxiety Struggles On New Album

    Ashley Tisdale Reveals Depression & Anxiety Struggles On New Album

    “This is the first time I’m being super vulnerable. This is me sharing my journey through anxiety and depression.”

    Ashley Tisdale, who first broke through starring in High School Musical, is now confessing her years long battle with anxiety and depression in a new album, aptly titled Symptoms.

    Tisdale told People that with Symptoms, “This is the first time I’m being super vulnerable. This is me sharing my journey through anxiety and depression. I didn’t know the anxiety symptoms I had in the past while touring. Before, I would freak out before going on stage. That was a panic attack. I had no idea what that was until I started reading about it.”

    About the lead single from the album, “Voices in My Head,” Tisdale explains, “There are so many times I’m at an event or even just a social party and I feel like I’m not good enough to be there, and I feel that a lot of us struggle with that. That negative thinking, that little voice in your head…”

    Tisdale hopes her new album will help erase the stigma around mental health issues. “The reason I wanted to do this album was because I wanted to make someone at home not feel so alone in what they go through. They could look at me and go, ‘We’re all human. We all go through things.’”

    Tisdale adds, “It’s so easy for people when someone goes, ‘Does anyone have anxiety?’ Everyone at the table will go, ‘Yeah, I do.’ If someone says, ‘Do you have depression?’ Nobody really wants to talk about it.”  

    She also told AOL, “I feel really vulnerable talking about it, and it’s weird to talk about it, but if I could make someone at home feel less alone, then I’m doing my job as an artist. I’ve gone through a journey. It’s obviously painful and hard, but it’s also the most beautiful thing.”

    When recording the album, Tisdale called the studio “my happy place,” and “my safe place” where she could be creative, and she called recording Symptoms “therapeutic. I feel like it saved me from just dwelling in what I was feeling.”

    And through the process of recording Symptoms, Tisdale learned to accept and embrace herself. “I think that when you struggle with those things, instead of being like ‘Oh I hate that stuff,’ I really accept it. I think that’s what makes you beautiful, that you’re not perfect.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Demi Lovato’s Life After Rehab

    Demi Lovato’s Life After Rehab

    From sober homes to 12-step meetings, the pop star reportedly has a strong post-rehab support system.

    After spending 90 days in an in-patient facility, singer Demi Lovato is adjusting to life after her overdose, utilizing a sober living facility and relying heavily on her ex-boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama for support. 

    TMZ reported that Valderrama regularly visited Lovato throughout her stay in rehab and has been talking with her and visiting since she returned to Los Angeles last week. The pair dated for six years before splitting up in 2016. 

    In 2015 when Lovato was celebrating three years of sobriety, she said that Valderrama had been instrumental to her recovery. 

    “I really wouldn’t be alive today without him,” she said, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

    “He’s loved me the way I never thought I deserved to be loved and with this day marking my 3rd year sober… After sharing my ups, putting up with my downs and supporting my recovery… he still never takes credit and I want the world to know how incredible his soul is,” Lovato wrote at the time. 

    The pair hasn’t been spotted in public, but sources told TMZ that they’ve been talking regularly since Lovato has been home. However, it’s not clear whether their interactions are romantic, especially since Lovato was spotted last week with clothing designer Henry Levy, laughing and holding hands.  

    TMZ also reports that Lovato is splitting her time between a private house and a sober home, where she has access to on-going sobriety support including counselors. She spends three days a week at that house, and spends the remainder of the week at home, easing in to everyday activities like going to the gym. Sources also reported that Lovato is regularly attending 12-step meetings. 

    In addition to the support that Lovato gets at the sober home and from attending meetings, she has a sober coach who is constantly by her side to help her get through the days, TMZ reported. 

    Lovato, who overdosed on pills laced with fentanyl in July, posted on social media after the incident. 

    “I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction,” she wrote. “What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet.”  

    She had been silent on social media since then. However, on Tuesday she posted a picture of herself at the ballot box, saying “I am so grateful to be home in time to vote! One vote can make a difference, so make sure your voice is heard! Now go out and vote.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ariana Grande: Therapy Saved My Life So Many Times

    Ariana Grande: Therapy Saved My Life So Many Times

    “I’ve got a lot of work to do but it’s a start to even be aware that it’s possible.”

    Singer Ariana Grande has had quite a few painful moments over the last 18 months. From the Manchester Arena bombing at her May 2017 concert to losing her ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, to a drug overdose in September—life hasn’t been easy for the 25-year-old pop star.

    On Monday, Grande lent some words of encouragement for people who may benefit from counseling. Responding to a tweet, she said, “In all honesty, therapy has saved my life so many times. If you’re afraid to ask for help, don’t be. You don’t have to be in constant pain and you can process trauma. I’ve got a lot of work to do but it’s a start to even be aware that it’s possible.”

    Grande has not shied from talking about her own battles. In an emotional interview with Ebro Darden of Beats 1 radio in August, the singer emphasized the importance of helping one another through the good and the bad.

    She said that her song “Get Well Soon” is about “just being there for each other and helping each other through scary times and anxiety. We just have to be there for each other as much as we can because you never fucking know.”

    She added that the song, which appears on her latest album Sweetener, is “also about personal demons and anxiety, more intimate tragedies as well. Mental health is so important. People don’t pay enough mind to it… People don’t pay attention to what’s happening inside.”

    Not only did she lose her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller (born Malcolm McCormick)—who she called “my dearest friend”—this year, she was the target of shame and blame from some misguided individuals.

    Responding to Mac fans who blamed her for triggering his fatal overdose, she said, “I am not a babysitter or a mother and no woman should feel that they need to be. I have cared for him and tried to support his sobriety and prayed for his balance for years (and always will of course) but shaming/blaming women for a man’s inability to keep it together is a very major problem.”

    A medical examiner confirmed this week that the Pittsburgh rapper had died from mixed drug toxicity of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.

    McCormick was candid about his drug use, and seemed to struggle to find a balance. In a 2015 interview with Billboard, he said, “I’m not doing as many drugs. It just eats at your mind, doing drugs every single day, every second. It’s rough on your body.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Demi Lovato’s Mom Says Singer Is 90 Days Sober

    Demi Lovato’s Mom Says Singer Is 90 Days Sober

    Lovato’s mother, Dianna De La Garza, discussed the singer’s early recovery in a recent interview.

    Demi Lovato has been very open with the public about her struggles with sobriety and mental health, and on July 24, she raised serious concern among her fans when she was taken to the hospital for a suspected overdose.

    Now, Lovato’s mother, Dianna De La Garza, has announced that her daughter has been sober for 90 days.

    As De La Garza said on Maria Menounos’ Sirius XM show, “She has 90 days. I couldn’t be more thankful or more proud of her because addiction being a disease, it’s work. It’s very hard. It’s not easy, and there are no shortcuts.”

    Menounos asked De La Garza if she knew what triggered her daughter’s relapse. She said, “I can’t really say for sure. I really don’t know. It can be any number of reasons.”

    Before her overdose, Lovato released the single “Sober” in June, where she apologized for falling off the wagon. De La Garza admitted, “I knew that she wasn’t sober. I didn’t know what she was doing because she doesn’t live with me and she’s 26.”

    De La Garza found out about her daughter’s overdose when she received a text that said, “I just saw on TMZ and I’m sorry.”

    “Before I could get to TMZ, I got the phone call from her assistant and she said, ‘We’re at the hospital.’ So then I knew, OK, she’s not gone. She’s here. And I said, ‘What’s going on?’ And the words that I heard are just a nightmare for any parent: ‘Demi overdosed.’”

    When she got a call from her daughter’s assistant confirming the news, “I said, ‘Is she okay?’ And she stopped for a second and said, ‘She’s conscious, but she’s not talking.’ I knew at that point that we were in trouble,” De La Garza told Newsmax TV.

    On August 5, 12 days after her overdose, Lovato released a statement on Instagram telling the public:

    “I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction. What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet… I now need time to heal and focus on my sobriety and road to recovery. The love you have all shown me will never be forgotten and I look forward to the day where I can say that I came out on the other side. I will keep fighting.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Boy George On Sobriety: I’m A Work In Progress

    Boy George On Sobriety: I’m A Work In Progress

     “I think that you never really get there, but you definitely get better at being alone and observing yourself.”

    Singer Boy George is soon releasing a new album with Culture Club for the first time in two decades, but he might not have made it this far if he were still focused on the drugs, he says.

    The singer and style icon (born George Alan O’Dowd) recounted the positive impact that sobriety has had on his life in an interview with USA Today.

    “You have more time. Your life is not centered around one obsession. But it takes time. I’ve always regarded myself as a work in progress,” he said. “I think that you never really get there, but you definitely get better at being alone and observing yourself.”

    The singer has had a long, public battle with drugs and has lost several friends and colleagues over the years to drug overdoses. Reflecting on what inspired him to try and get sober, the singer spoke frankly.

    “I think it’s all quite well-documented. Some of it’s true, some of it’s not. When you’re in the eye of the storm, you don’t see a way out of it. For me, it was really just a series of events that led me to an AA meeting,” he recounted. “As much as I didn’t want to be there, I also knew that’s where I needed to be. So you could call it a point of realization.”

    He also says that there was no one dramatic moment in which he suddenly realized he needed to turn his life around, but rather a spark of realization that he needed to get better.

    “So many bad things happen to people when they’re in throes of addiction and it’s almost impossible to say what is the ‘rock bottom’ that makes you stop. Sometimes it’s just a chance encounter or a moment of clarity,” he said. “For me, I was just brought to a place where I was able to stop and go, ‘OK, this is not my life. This is not what I want to be or where I want to go.’”

    When asked how he felt about the new generation of LGBTQ artists who haven’t felt the need to hide themselves, he answered that he was glad that they could come out to a world more accepting of them.

    “It’s interesting. Without people like me, (David) Bowie, Oscar Wilde, and whoever came before taking the kinds of risk that we took however we took them, maybe there wouldn’t be a situation where you didn’t have to think about your sexuality—that you can just factor it into what you do. I suppose, in a way, that’s what I always wanted,” Boy George answered.

    “So I guess the answer would be I’m delighted for those people, because I’ve always wanted to live in a world where your sexuality, your race and your age weren’t important.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Demi Lovato’s Sister Says She’s Working Hard At Sobriety

    Demi Lovato’s Sister Says She’s Working Hard At Sobriety

    “We’ve been through a lot together and every single time…we always come out on the other side a 100 times stronger than before.”

    Demi Lovato’s 16-year-old sister said that the star is working hard at her sobriety, 60 days after the singer reportedly started treatment. 

    “She’s working really hard on her sobriety and we’re all so incredibly proud of her,” Madison De La Garza said, according to E! News. De La Garza was being interviewed as part of the promotions for her new movie, Subject 16. During the conversation, she talked about how difficult Lovato’s July overdose was for her family. 

    “It’s been crazy for our family,” she said. “It’s been a lot.”

    De La Garza said that the family is focusing on the positive. 

    “We’ve been through a lot together, and every single time—I mean if you read my mom’s book, you would know—every time we go through something, we always come out on the other side a hundred times stronger than before,” De La Garza said. “So, we’ve just been so thankful for everything—for the little things.”

    De La Garza said that she wants to do “so many little things” with her sister once Lovato leave treatment — including getting frozen yogurt. 

    “It sounds so small, but [I want to] go to Menchie’s,” she said. “Honestly, I’m more of a Pinkberry person, but she likes Menchie’s, and so we usually go there.”

    Lovato is at an undisclosed facility. In early August she released a statement on Instagram, saying, “What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet.”

    She told fans that she would be off the radar while she focuses on recovery. 

    “I now need time to heal and focus on my sobriety and road to recovery,” she wrote. “The love you have all shown me will never be forgotten and I look forward to the day where I can say I came out on the other side. I will keep fighting.”

    Although Lovato has not made any public statements since then, her family members say that she is doing the necessary work to live sober. 

    “I can honestly say today that she is doing really well,” Lovato’s mother, Dianna De La Garza, said in September. “She’s happy, she’s healthy, she’s working on her sobriety, and she’s getting the help she needs.”

    De La Garza added that Lovato’s overdose came as a shock, but that the family’s faith helped them cope. 

    “We just didn’t know for two days if she was going to make it or not,” she said. “I just feel like the reason she is alive today is because of the millions and millions of prayers that went up every day.”

    View the original article at thefix.com