Busted star Matt Willis has revealed how his substance addiction began when he was seven years old and he would “get high” on his asthma inhaler.
The 35-year-old singer, opened up about how his childhood addiction led to him becoming “a massive alcoholic” who also used cocaine as an adult.
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Talking on new mental health podcast The Naked Professors, Matt, who has been married to presenter Emma Willis for a decade, opened up about how his addictions began.
He said: “I was mildly asthmatic as a kid and I used to hide under my duvet and take as many hits of my inhaler as I possibly could when I was about seven because it would make my head throb and my lips tingle.
“I’d be getting high in my bed at seven years old so I have always had this in me to find ways to get away from dealing with who I am and how I feel. Quitting drinking was one of the hardest tasks in my life.”
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Matt who credits Emma, who is the mother of their three children Isabelle, Ace and Trixie Grace, with helping him to get sober, says his addiction came from not being able to deal with his feelings.
He said: “Everything that takes me away from feeling the way I feel is a problem for me because I cannot deal with how I feel, so I will do anything possible to take that away and change the way I feel.”
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The singer also insisted that his addictions had nothing to do with him finding fame at a young age. He admitted to TV presenter Matt Johnson and life coach Ben Bidwell who host the podcast: “I would have been the same if I worked in Tesco or a bank, I am an addict all the way through.
“I was in trouble before the band ended, I was a massive alcoholic.
“I did cocaine a few times every now and then when I was drinking to keep me sober. We’d call it a sharpener, so I’d be a bit [bleep], do a couple of lines and go, ‘Oh I’ll be alright’.”
“I hated it, hated everything about cocaine, hated the way it made me feel, hated everything about it, but I couldn’t stop doing it which is madness.”
He added: “It is my illness. You have this hole and you try and shovel everything in it to fill it but the hole is never ending.”
View this post on InstagramMe on the dancefloor pulling my best moves!!! Let’s see yours??? #bustednineties @busted
Matt, who at his lowest point went to rehab more than three times in three years, has revealed that he wasn’t sure his relationship with Emma, 42, could survive his problems.
He previously told The Sun: “We went snowboarding in 2005 and I think that was the first time she was like, ‘[bleeping] hell, this guy is out of control!’ Then by March I was in rehab. She’s [bleeping] amazing and stuck with me the whole time. I don’t know why. Of course, it was testing. There were times when we thought we couldn’t carry on any more.
“Unfortunately it was always down to me as it was always my [bleep], [bleeping] it up. I’m so thankful to her because she really helped me through that, and now life is great.”
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