Pete Doherty has shared that he's "a very sick man" in speaking with journalist Louis Theroux about his years of drug and alcohol abuse, explaining in a new interview how it feels as if "death is lurking."
In a recent appearance on BBC series Louis Theroux Interviews, the co-lead vocalist of the Libertines was asked about his health by the journalist after a moment in which he "got up to take a swig from a bottle of blackcurrent rum, then proceeded to cough and clutch his chest" [via The Independent].
"You are looking at a very sick man," Doherty replies. "I've battered it, haven't I, I've fucking caned it. [The] heroin and the crack… I surrendered to that, and then it was cocaine and the smoking and the alcohol, and now it's cheese and the saucisson, and the sugar in the tea."
Doherty shares that doctors have advised him that "it's all gotta go," explaining, "They told me a little while ago if you don't change your diet then you're gonna have diabetes and cholesterol problems. Death's lurking, you know what I mean? That's why I carry that stick."
Asked what he would tell someone curious about experimenting with drugs, Doherty replied, "My life in using was so chaotic and the consequences of [it]... you'll be in prison and you'll fuck your body up, and you'll be skint, and you'll lose your family and you'll lose everything you love. Is it really that good? That's beyond curiosity, that's a right mess."
He told Theroux, "I still get tingles thinking about it, but I'm able to talk to you rather than running off and scoring," adding how he currently takes blockers to prevent heroin from taking effect. "I like to think I could do without it," he said. "But that level of trust has to be earned, doesn't it."
"At the moment I think I'm still reeling a bit — it's almost like I'm still in shock from having got clean. Maybe in 10 years I'll be able to talk with pride about being clean."
In November 2019, Doherty was arrested in Paris for buying cocaine, and was arrested in France a second time shortly after his release. Last year, Doherty shared with NME that he has been "clean since December 2019."
In October, Doherty and the Libertines announced that new album All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade will arrive March 8 of next year, marking the group's first full-length in eight years. You can hear first single "Run, Run, Run" below.
In a recent appearance on BBC series Louis Theroux Interviews, the co-lead vocalist of the Libertines was asked about his health by the journalist after a moment in which he "got up to take a swig from a bottle of blackcurrent rum, then proceeded to cough and clutch his chest" [via The Independent].
"You are looking at a very sick man," Doherty replies. "I've battered it, haven't I, I've fucking caned it. [The] heroin and the crack… I surrendered to that, and then it was cocaine and the smoking and the alcohol, and now it's cheese and the saucisson, and the sugar in the tea."
Doherty shares that doctors have advised him that "it's all gotta go," explaining, "They told me a little while ago if you don't change your diet then you're gonna have diabetes and cholesterol problems. Death's lurking, you know what I mean? That's why I carry that stick."
Asked what he would tell someone curious about experimenting with drugs, Doherty replied, "My life in using was so chaotic and the consequences of [it]... you'll be in prison and you'll fuck your body up, and you'll be skint, and you'll lose your family and you'll lose everything you love. Is it really that good? That's beyond curiosity, that's a right mess."
He told Theroux, "I still get tingles thinking about it, but I'm able to talk to you rather than running off and scoring," adding how he currently takes blockers to prevent heroin from taking effect. "I like to think I could do without it," he said. "But that level of trust has to be earned, doesn't it."
"At the moment I think I'm still reeling a bit — it's almost like I'm still in shock from having got clean. Maybe in 10 years I'll be able to talk with pride about being clean."
In November 2019, Doherty was arrested in Paris for buying cocaine, and was arrested in France a second time shortly after his release. Last year, Doherty shared with NME that he has been "clean since December 2019."
In October, Doherty and the Libertines announced that new album All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade will arrive March 8 of next year, marking the group's first full-length in eight years. You can hear first single "Run, Run, Run" below.