Matt Willis has revealed he turned to drugs and alcohol after feeling “less than” in “virtually every situation” in his life.
The Busted singer, 41, spoke candidly on the Mail’s Life of Bryony podcast with Bryony Gordon, which was released on Monday, about his struggles and journey to sobriety.
In a deeply personal and inspiring conversation, Matt spoke about his journey through addiction, recovery, and relapse.
She also shared her struggles with feelings of discomfort in her own skin and how these challenges shaped her substance dependence.
Matt explained why he turned to drugs and alcohol: “I’ve always felt less than in almost every situation I’m in, you know, and I’ve always felt like everyone thought I was a bit of an idiot.”
‘And that I would be better off not there and then I found out that he drank drugs and it went away and it was a solution to my problem until it became my problem that I needed a solution to.
Matt Willis has revealed he turned to drugs and alcohol after feeling “less than” in “virtually every situation” in his life.
The Busted singer, 41, spoke candidly on the Mail’s Life of Bryony podcast with Bryony Gordon, which was released on Monday, about his struggles and journey to sobriety.
He didn’t give me everything I didn’t have. It gave me confidence, it gave me the ability to talk to people, to girls, to adults.
“I was 19 in a world of music and adults and stuff, and I didn’t know how to behave and suddenly I thought, oh right, we can just move on and everyone will be trapped.”
He added: “He gave me all that, and then, you know, first he gave it to me, then he took it away from me, you know, and, um, and little by little it became the complete opposite.” Suddenly I was the person that no one wanted to call, that no one wanted to invite to anything.
Matt also recalled what saved him from his addiction, explaining, “What saved me was another addict.
“I remember very vividly the first time the lightbulb went on, you know, and it was another addict who told me something that I can’t say because I’ll break down, but it was another one.” addict who saved me and changed my life.
‘And I have everything to be grateful for that moment, and I had to keep working on it, but that was part of the message: this is not going to go away. You can’t push it away anymore.
‘You have to address it. You’ll probably have to address it every day, but it’s worth it. And that has been my experience, you know, it has been worth it and at times it was very difficult, but now it is not so difficult.
‘When I say not that hard, it’s not that fucking hard. Life is pretty wonderful right now, you know? And that’s something people can achieve.’
In a deeply personal and inspiring conversation, Matt spoke about his journey through addiction, recovery, and relapse.
She also shared her struggles with feeling uncomfortable in her own skin and how these challenges shaped her substance dependence.
Matt explained why he turned to drugs and alcohol: “I’ve always felt less than in almost every situation I’m in, you know, and I’ve always felt like everyone thought I was a bit of a dick.”
The boy band star struggled to stay sober for most of his adult life after being catapulted to fame at just 19 years old.
He entered rehab three times before turning 25, including once shortly before marrying his The Voice host wife, Emma, 48, in 2008.
Although he is now sober, Matt relapsed once again in 2017 while on the Busted reunion tour when his youngest daughter, Trixie, was just ten months old.
Speaking previously about his addiction, he admitted: ‘Addicts are very good at hiding everything. I have yet to meet a stupid addict. They are scheming and manipulative.
“It’s not rock ‘n’ roll. It wasn’t glamorous, it was really sad.”
When he was in his early 20s, the singer said he couldn’t make it to lunchtime without drugs or alcohol.
Later, on the 2017 tour, “I was doing six grams (of cocaine) alone every day and I wasn’t coming home until three in the morning,” a month after he started taking the drug again.
Matt made a documentary Fighting Addiction with the BBC last year.
He said at the time that making the documentary made him realize the impact his addiction was having on Emma, who often burst into tears for fear of relapse.
“It was difficult for me to see the extent to which that fear was still prevalent in her,” Willis said, before adding that the documentary made the couple “realize that we still had something to talk about.”
He entered rehab three times before turning 25, including once shortly before marrying his The Voice host wife, Emma, 48, in 2008 (seen with Emma in September 2024).
Matt previously shared some of the harsh realities of his battle with drug addiction and the toll it took on his relationship with his wife.
The star candidly admitted that she had tricked Emma into thinking she was crazy during the height of her struggle with addiction.
Have you ever felt like life is a little…too much? Bestselling author and journalist Bryony Gordon is here to ditch the shame and dive headfirst into the trickier parts of life. Look for The Life of Bryony wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes released every Monday and Friday.
The special episode supports “Taking Action on Addiction” as part of the annual Addiction Awareness Week 2024 campaign moment.