Matt Willis has detailed the extent of his addiction battle and revealed that when he relapsed seven years ago he was relying on six grams of cocaine a day.
The 40-year-old, who is rose to fame in Noughties pop punk band Busted, has spoken about his battle with drugs and alcohol which “pushed him to the edge” and his daily struggle to keep himself clean and sober – as well as his fear of relapse.
He is now set to open up about his battle in his new BBC documentary, Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction, which will see him explore what could be behind his addiction as he speaks to experts and other addicts to better understand himself.
Ahead of its release on May 17, Willis reflected on the extent of his issues and how finding fame so young exasperated his addiction.
He told the Radio Times: “I was young, and I was always the one taking it way further than I should have. The number of blackout moments (due to drinking) I had even up to the age of 20 was huge.”
Speaking about his interview on The Jonathan Ross Show more than two decades ago, he said: “That was hardest for me to watch because I’m looking at myself and I’m 20 years old or something and I’m obviously off my face.
“It’s not rock ‘n’ roll, it wasn’t glamorous, it was really sad.”
Willis, who has been through rehab four times in the last two decades, sadly relapsed during Busted’s 2016 reunion tour when his youngest daughter Trixie was just ten months old.
Within a month of being offered a single line of the class A substance, the music star, who had been sober for eight years, revealed he was taking cocaine daily in his recording studio and was telling his wife he was busy writing a new album.
Discussing the dark time, he explained that he “was doing six grams (of cocaine) on my own every day and not coming home until three in the morning”.
The documentary will also delve into the impact it has had on his wife and TV presenter Emma Willis, who appears close to tears in the film as she tells of her unease that he will relapse again.
The couple married in 2008, just three days after he left rehab. Now 15 years on, the couple have three children and Emma admitted she’s determined to help him avoid relapsing again as he prepares to go on the road with Busted again.
According to OK!, she said: “It's very easy to look in on a situation that you're not directly involved in and go, ‘f*** that, get out of that’.
“But when you're in it, you have that history together… and if you love someone you're not going anywhere. But it's not easy. Sometimes I feel like I’ve got four kids instead of three. There's been a lot of joy, but equally it's been incredibly heavy at times.”
