Busted bassist Matt Willis has admitted he was doing “six grams” of cocaine “every f****** day” after the group announced their reunion in 2016.
In a new BBC documentary, Willis detailed his history of addiction and admitted he would lie about where he was to his wife, so he could go out to take drugs.
The 40-year-old explained he had got himself clean for his wedding to TV presenter Emma Willis, and had managed to stay sober until 2016, when Busted announced a new tour and album.
Willis said he was then offered cocaine backstage at a gig, which led to him relapsing.
He said: “Within a month I was doing six grams, bang, bang, bang, on my own, every f****** day and not coming home until three in the morning, pretending I was working on an album, which I wasn’t really writing.
“I was making… music in a studio doing coke.”
Talking about people telling his wife to leave him, he said: “I thought she would leave me many, many times, and I was involved in some of those times when people were saying that.
“I’m so grateful she didn’t and that she could see something in our relationship that was worth holding on to. And it was – we have three kids, and we’re very happy.
“It’s always hard to hear other people telling your wife to get out, but understandably at the time.”
He added: “I’m terrified of relapse. If I do that again everything will end.”
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‘I was so scared he would die’
Host of The Voice, Emma Willis, told the documentary: “I remember I used to drive around looking for him.
“I’d go in all the local pubs trying to find him, but he always went to the ones I didn’t know about.
“I suppose when you see it written down on paper you realise how bad he was. There were so many ways that he hid things, I was so scared he would die.”
Emma Willis
She added: “Living with someone with addiction is unpredictable and anxiety-inducing, which I’m trying to say with a smile on my face, so I don’t start crying again.”
Willis also told the programme about the pressures of being famous when he was young.
The musician also looks ahead to the upcoming tour with Busted bandmates James Bourne and Charlie Simpson in the show.
Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction is on BBC One and iPlayer on 17 May.
