Rapper Macklemore, real name Ben Haggerty, revealed that he suffered a drug relapse in 2014 when the pressures of fame became too much for him to handle.
Haggerty told Complex Magazine that he stopped attending therapy meetings and began using sleeping pills and marijuana after a history of alcohol and drug abuse problems along with a 2008 stint in rehab in 2008.
“I held it together for a while,” said Haggerty. “But, eventually, I stopped going to my 12-step meetings. I was burnt out. I was super-stressed. We weren’t sleeping - doing a show every day, zigzagging all over the country.” He said the fact that there was no privacy and too much criticism from the media led him to “want to escape.”
According to Philly.com, Haggerty’s relapse began to affect his music and he stopped working on his second album. He claimed the wake-up call came when he learned his fiancé, Tricia Davis, was expecting his first child. “Since I heard that Tricia was pregnant, I was like, ‘I need to grow up right now,’ said Haggerty. The couple welcomed a baby girl in May 2015.
Macklemore and his collaborator Ryan Lewis are due to release their next album sometime later this year.
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