He once told Rolling Stone he started doing cocaine in the early 1990s.
And Keith Urban’s former bandmate and songwriting partner, Vernon Rust, has written about the time in the late 1990s the country star allegedly snorted $320,000 of the drug in an ‘epic binge’ in his new book, Fake News.
According to New Idea, the tell-all describes Keith, who has credited his sobriety from 2006 onwards to wife Nicole Kidman, as having ‘grandiose obsessions and drug-induced kleptomania and a tiny, childlike coke-addled personality’.
Tell-all: Fake News author Vernon Rust describes Keith Urban, who has credited his sobriety from 2006 to wife Nicole Kidman, as having ‘grandiose obsessions and drug-induced kleptomania and a tiny, childlike coke-addled personality’ during the 1990s
When the former friends performed as The Ranch in the late 1990s, Vernon claims Keith used ‘coke, heroin, crack, methadone and weed’.
Vernon, who spent ’14 years homeless and addicted to crack’ after the group broke up and is described by New Idea as ‘bitter’, alleges they spent ‘over a quarter of a million dollars on cocaine’ recording the trio’s self-titled 1997 album.
‘We lived in the studio. We did a lot of coke, and it stayed up for days,’ he explains in the book.
Memoir: When the former friends (Vernon is pictured third from left) performed as The Ranch in the late 1990s, Vernon claims Keith used ‘coke, heroin, crack, methadone and weed’
‘We lived in the studio. We did a lot of coke, and it stayed up for days,’ he explains in the book about recording the group’s self-titled 1997 album
‘We were so reliably awesome in the music that the drugs weren’t only tolerated but encouraged,’ he continues
‘We were so reliably awesome in the music that the drugs weren’t only tolerated but encouraged,’ he continues.
‘Every track off that album was coke-fuelled. Of the million [US] dollars spent on the recording of it… a fair guess would estimate at least 25 percent of that money went to Clinton’s “war on drugs” foot soldiers,’ he describes.
In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Keith reflected on the moment he was offered a ‘massive pipe’ by his roommate to try cocaine for the first time in Nashville.
Wrong turn: In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Keith reflected on the moment he was offered a ‘massive pipe’ by his roommate to try cocaine for the first time in Nashville
‘After that, s*it started to really go awry. I stepped up my drinking. I started doing more drugs. The whole back end of the Nineties were just awful,’ he offered
‘I’d never had it, it looked good, so I took it. Things didn’t immediately go pear-shaped, but that was the beginning of it,’ he stated.
The father of two, now famously married to Hollywood A-lister Nicole, revealed it was a break-up with a former girlfriend that sent him spiraling.
‘After that, s*it started to really go awry. I stepped up my drinking. I started doing more drugs. The whole back end of the Nineties were just awful,’ he offered.
Saving grace: He has attributed Nicole with his sobriety, after she staged an intervention in 2006, and has said it is a ‘miracle’ their new marriage survived his battle with his demons
He has attributed Nicole with his sobriety, after she staged an intervention in 2006, and has said it is a ‘miracle’ their new marriage survived his battle with his demons.
‘I was spiritually awoken with her. And for the first time in my life, I could shake off the shackles of addiction,’ he told the publication.
Vernon doesn’t mince words with his opinion of Keith and Nicole in Fake News, which was released on August 2.
‘Those two bo-toxic ninnies wouldn’t know benevolence or spirituality if it came up and bit ’em in the ass,’ he writes.
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Keith’s representation for further comment.
Darker times: The father of two, now famously married to Hollywood A-lister Nicole, revealed it was a break-up with a former girlfriend that sent him spiraling