Billy Idol is reflecting on one of the most chaotic periods of his life, revealing how he tried to escape heroin addiction during the height of his rock-and-roll fame.
The 70-year-old musician opened up about his struggles with drugs during a candid appearance on Bill Maher’s podcast Club Random, where he discussed the brutal reality of heroin withdrawal and the unusual path he took to break free from the drug.
Idol explained that the experience of quitting heroin was so painful that it pushed him toward another dangerous substance.
“Once you’re trying to get off heroin, what do you turn to?” he said. “You go to something else. I started smoking crack to get off heroin.”
Despite the shocking admission, Idol said the strategy ultimately helped him stop using heroin.
“It worked,” he said.
The rock star described heroin withdrawal as almost unbearable, echoing a comparison previously made by fellow musician Boy George. According to Idol, the sensation can feel like “your skeleton is trying to get out of your body.”
“That’s how unbearable it is,” he added.
Idol also shared a frightening moment from the height of his success following the release of his 1983 album Rebel Yell. After returning to England and snorting heroin, the singer said his condition quickly became critical.
He recalled turning blue and nearly dying before people around him intervened.
According to Idol, he was placed in an ice-cold bath and rushed to a rooftop so he could get fresh air, which likely saved his life.
During the conversation, host Bill Maher asked why Idol never injected heroin, which was common among users at the time. Idol explained that he had always avoided needles because his mother, Joan Broad, worked as a nurse.
Because of that fear, he said he preferred snorting the drug instead.
Idol has spoken openly in recent years about the extreme drug culture that surrounded him during his peak years in the music industry. In his 2025 documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead, the singer described how substance use was widely accepted and even celebrated in the rock scene during the 1980s.
He also shared another wild story from that era, recalling a chaotic trip to Bangkok where he and a companion reportedly caused about $75,000 in damage to a hotel.
The incident, he said, became a wake-up call that eventually pushed him to rethink his lifestyle.
Now decades removed from those turbulent years, Idol has become more reflective about his past, speaking candidly about the mistakes and lessons that came with living through rock music’s most notorious era.
