MÖTLEY CRÜE's NIKKI SIXX: 'I Love Being Sober For Many Reasons'

MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx, who celebrated the 20th anniversary of his getting sober last July, spoke about his journey in a new interview with Fox News. He said: "I love being sober for many reasons. Somebody told me recently, 'Man, you look pretty good with everything you've been through.' [Laughs] It was a journey. I was six years sober. I didn't quite get it. I mean, I got it, but I slipped and went out one day and then I was four years sober. And then I slipped. I didn't want to go back and forth. I checked myself into rehab 20 years ago because I wanted to get it. And then I wanted to pass that message on. I want them to see what recovery can look like."

Sixx struggled with substance abuse for years and was even supposedly declared clinically dead after a heroin overdose in 1987 made his heart stop for two minutes. The 63-year-old has since become actively involved in a recovery "program," which he credited for helping him transform his life and relationships.

"By letting go of self and ego, working a program that connects you to a higher power and giving back to those still struggling are just some of the important things you learn through sobriety," Sixx wrote when he celebrated nine years of sobriety in July 2013. "You get to repair the damage done from drink, drugs and horrific behaviors (that broke people's hearts who loved you."

The rocker, who detailed his near-fatal drug addiction in the best-selling book "The Heroin Diaries", added: "For me, taking away the substance just gave [me] an honest view of who I had become and then the healing started. I do believe without any program to help, many are just dry drunks and there is always a danger of them going out again. I've been there. It's not pretty. This is no joking matter to me, so I take it seriously."

Asked by The Guardian about a diary entry in "The Heroin Diaries" where he described himself as an "alcoholic heroin and coke addict getting into pills" and how he spent Christmas Day 1986 naked under the Christmas tree, clutching a shotgun, Nikki said: "Well, if you shoot enough cocaine, you go into a kind of psychosis, and I believed people were coming to get me. Scary place, let me tell you. It reads like some kind of a dark horror story or bedtime thriller. But in real life, the trauma that psychosis puts your body through is on a cellular level. You believe that you’re going to have an experience even though it's not really happening. I can remember those, because you come out of them, and it's scary. But you can only imagine what it would be like to be insane and not come out of it, or a version of that, like dementia."

Sixx is not the only member of MÖTLEY CRÜE who has battled alcohol addiction. Singer Vince Neil's 1984 drunk-driving accident killed HANOI ROCKS drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley and seriously injured two others. He spent 15 days in jail and received five years probation.

"It was rough for everybody after that accident," Neil told USA Today in 2020. "I tried to stay sober for a few years, but it's tough when there's no support system around you. They were still doing coke and drinking and carrying on, and I just couldn't be a part of it."

Photo courtesy of Jason Shaltz / SiriusXM