Jimmy Barnes has opened up about his 40-year struggle with alcohol and illicit drugs in an emotional Q&A appearance.
Appearing on the ABC program on Monday night, the Australian rock ‘n’ roll legend revealed details about his tough upbringing.
‘I grew up in a very abusive sort of family, with lots of violence, domestic violence and alcoholism and promiscuity,’ he said on the current affair program.
‘I grew up in a very abusive sort of family, with lots of violence, domestic violence and alcoholism and promiscuity,’ Barnes said on the current affair program
‘It was a horrible childhood.’
Barnes, 61, revealed alcoholism and addiction long plagued his family.
‘I was born an alcoholic. My father was an alcoholic, my grandfather, his father. It’s been backhanded down from child to child,’ he said.
He said growing up ‘surrounded with violence and abuse’ affected his adulthood.
‘I’m a rock ‘n’ roll singer, traveling the world, flying first class, had everything at my feet and it still nearly destroyed me and everybody I came in contact with,’ he said.
‘I ended up trying to drink myself to death and trying to basically kill myself for 40 years,’ he said.
‘I ended up trying to drink myself to death and trying to basically kill myself for 40 years,’ he said
Jimmy Barnes at the 2016 ARIA Awards
‘Every day I was drinking more and medicating with drugs and prescription and non-prescription.
‘(I was) on a bender for about 40 years. Cocaine, ecstasy, uppers, sleeping pills and alcohol.
‘I was drinking like copious amounts and taking drugs and remember thinking ‘I’m staring into the abyss here and I don’t know what to do”.
The performer said he fell to his darkest point when he tried to kill himself in an Auckland hotel room he was staying at with his wife in 2012.
Barnes revealed he woke up one morning after a night of heavy drinking, not remembering he tried to take his own life the night before.
His rock: The Scottish-born star is pictured with wife Jane ahead of the 17th Annual Helpmann Awards in 2017
‘Tied around the clothes rail is the dressing gown cord’: Jimmy said that he drank the minibar dry on the night and then attempted suicide, he revealed in his new book (pictured in 2001)
‘Suddenly I saw a dressing gown cord tied around a rail in the dressing room and I hadn’t remembered doing it. It came back to me and I remember getting out of bed and going in and thinking ‘maybe it’s easier to die’,’ he said.
‘I lay with a rope around my neck trying to die.’
In his new book, Working Class Man, the legendary rocker said that was the moment he turned his life around.
The singer, who has been open about his history of alcohol and drug abuse, revealed last year he never thought he would live past the age of 21.
If you are experiencing mental health difficulties, or know someone who is, phone Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.
Struggles: The rocker, who was notorious for his drinking and poor money management, pictured with Cold Chisel (pictured)
‘Lucky for me, I’m still here’: Jimmy has been open about his past, and last year admitted that he never thought he’d live past the age of 21