Rocker Billy Idol revealed that he smoked crack cocaine while trying to stop using heroin.
Speaking on the "Club Random with Bill Maher" podcast, the 70-year-old singer said he turned to another drug as he attempted to break his heroin habit.
"Once you're trying to get off heroin, what do you go to? You go to something else," said Idol.
"I started smoking crack to get off heroin."
"Did you really?" Maher asked.
"It worked. It worked," Idol replied, laughing.
The remarks come as Idol discusses his new documentary, "Billy Idol Should Be Dead," which examines his rise to fame, struggles with addiction, and return to performing music.
During the podcast, Idol also recalled a near-fatal experience involving heroin after returning to England following the success of his 1983 album "Rebel Yell." He said he and friends used heroin and later lost consciousness.
"Eventually, we did pass out, and then when … other people in the room came to, I was going blue," Idol said.
Maher asked why he was turning blue after using heroin.
"If you're dying, you're gonna start turning blue," Idol said.
Although Idol said he injected heroin only "a few times," he noted that he more often snorted it.
The musician has spoken openly in recent interviews about the extent of his addiction.
In an interview with The Associated Press in April 2025, Idol said drug use was widely accepted in the rock scene during his early years and revealed he first took acid when he was 12 years old.
"There's a point in my life where I was very drug addicted," he said.
Looking back, Idol said he considers himself fortunate to have survived.
"I'm lucky that I've kept the brain I've got because some people went brain-dead, and some people ended up in jail forever. Or dead," he told the outlet.
"Imagine if it was today. If I was doing what I was back then today, I would be dead because I would have run into fentanyl."
Idol rose to prominence in the 1980s with songs including "Dancing With Myself," "White Wedding," "Rebel Yell," and "Eyes Without a Face."
The British singer moved to the United States in 1981 to pursue a solo career after leaving his band in the United Kingdom.
In recent years, Idol has said he worked gradually to leave addiction behind. Reflecting in a 2024 interview with People, he described the long process of change.
"I really started to think I should try and go forward and not be a drug addict anymore and stuff like that," he said.
"It took a long time, but gradually, I did achieve some sort of discipline where I'm not really the same kind of guy I was in the '80s. I'm not the same drug-addicted person."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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