Billy Idol reveals he’s “California sober” after struggling with substance abuse issues for years.
“I really started to think I should try and go forward and not be a drug addict anymore and stuff like that,” he told People in an interview published Wednesday.
“I’m, I suppose, ‘California sober.’ I just tell myself I can do what I want, but then I don’t do it. If I tell myself I can’t do anything, I want to do it. So I tell myself, ‘You can do anything you like.’ But I don’t actually do it,” he continued.
Billy Idol and 2-year-old granddaughter Poppy Rebel match in rocker looks
The “Dancing with Myself” singer, 68, admitted that it “took a long time” for him to manage his addiction, but he is no longer “the same drug addicted person” that he was “in the ’80s.”
“I mean, AA would say, ‘You’re always a drug addict.’ And that may be true, but I don’t do anything that much anymore. I got over it somehow. I was really lucky that I could get over it because a lot of people can’t,” he said.