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Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Entertainment
Merlin Alderslade

"I was a dangerous addict." Demi Lovato and Alice Cooper guitar hero Nita Strauss on the struggles of staying sober while touring

Nita Strauss playing her guitar on stage.

Uber-talented metal guitar hero Nita Strauss has opened up on her issues with alcohol and substance abuse in a brand new interview with Metal Hammer. Speaking to Hammer writer Dave Everley in their new issue, out now, the Alice Cooper and Demi Lovato guitarist explains that while her problems with addiction weren't always obvious to those around her, they still took their toll.

“I wouldn’t say I hit rock bottom, she says. "I’m not like Nikki Sixx, but I was a dangerous addict, because whether I was doing drugs or drinking, I was very highly functional. I was doing all these things that could have got me in trouble, but I never played a bad show, I was never falling-down sloppy. But it was really insidious, because it was bleeding into my personal life. Some of the guys in the band had noticed it, but it took my partner Josh, who is now my husband, saying to me: ‘If you’re gonna be like this, I don’t know how long I’m going to be with you. I can’t watch you destroy your life like this.’ This was the highest point of my professional career so far, and it just seemed unfair – I couldn’t understand why I was getting picked on, and why I had to be boring and go to sleep early.”

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