
Deryck Whibley opens up about alcoholism one year later: ‘I don’t want to drink again’
One year ago, Deryck Whibley was “near death” after collapsing due to an alcohol-related illness. Fans will remember the Canadian rocker’s shocking blog post titled “Rock Bottom,” which detailed his secret alcohol addiction and included alarming photos of the Sum 41 frontman lying in a hospital bed looking extremely gaunt.
Now, in a recent interview with Vice’s new music hub, Noisey, the 35-year-old singer gives fans a rare update on his recovery.
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"The doctors said I was lucky to be alive and that there was still a chance I could die," he recalled of his hospitalization, revealing that he "couldn't walk for the longest time" and that he is still "re-training himself to walk normally" because of the damage he had been done to his body.
Indeed, Deryck's condition – "my liver and kidneys collapsed," he wrote at the time – was so bad that had to be placed in a medically induced coma for one week. He spent the month of April, 2014 lying in a hospital bed hooked up to IVs.
Deryck's 23-year-old model fiancée, Ariana Cooper, has been helping him through the recovery process this past year remaining by her rocker beau's side since his health scare. And despite the long road ahead, one where he spends "80 per cent" of his day in physical therapy, the Canadian singer is now on the mend and has high hopes for his future.
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"I'm glad it happened now and not when I'm like, 50, because my body wouldn't have been able to handle it ... However, now I'm feeling better than I've ever felt," he told Vice. "I'm healthier. I'm in the best shape of my life."
With the support of his loving bride-to-be and doting mom, Deryck has been recording tracks with his band for a sixth studio album, and even shared a teaser of a new song on Facebook last month. Fans are no doubt delighted over the prospect of new music, as it’s been six years since Sum 41 released their 2011 album, Screaming Bloody Murder – the same year thatDeryck and ex-wife Avril Lavigne divorced.
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The couple's split may not have helped to curb Deryck's excessive partying, but the article states that the singer started his "hard boozing" in 2001 after the release of the band’s first studio album, All Killer No Filler, which went certified platinum in the United States, Canada and in the UK. He spent the next 10 years touring exhaustively, drinking to "wake me up and get that fake energy."
"There were a lot of times I didn't even want to drink, but I was so tired that shots of Jack were all I could do to get onstage," he admitted.
As for his alcoholism, Deryck says he’s in recovery and no longer has a desire to drink.
“Mentally, I don’t even want to drink again anyway. If I literally hadn’t done it to death, I might feel like I’ll be missing something, but I’m not missing anything. I’m done with it," he said.