Pink reveals she ‘almost died’ of drug overdose aged 16
The singer says she ‘almost died’ of an overdose when she was just 16.(Getty Images)
Pink has revealed that a difficult childhood led her down a rocky path that saw her almost die of a drug overdose at just 16.
The singer opened up about her tumultuous teenage years, which stemmed from “complicated” relationships with her parents in a new interview with 60 Minutes.
The “Rock Star” singer told journalist Cecilia Vega that she used to be the kid that the other parents didn’t want their kids to play with.
“I was a punk, I had a mouth, I had a chip on my shoulder. Basically, I grew up in a house where, every day, my parents were screaming at each other, throwing things, hated each other,” she shared.
The Grammy Award winner admits that one argument she had with her mother was so bad that it got physical and her mother fell down the stairs. She describes the incident as her “one regret in life.”
Pink, real name Alecia Beth Moore, describes her younger self as “off the rails”, recalling how she got into drugs at a very young age.
“I was selling drugs and then I was kicked out of the house. I dropped out of high school,” she recalled.
Then on Thanksgiving in 1995, when Pink was just 16 years old, she had a near-fatal overdose that set her straight for good.
“I was at a rave and I overdosed. I was on ecstasy, angel dust, crystal, all kinds of things,” she says.
“And then I was out. Done. Too much”
When Vega asked Pink if she “almost died,” Pink admitted: “Yeah.”
Funnily enough, just weeks after Pink swore off drugs, she landed her first record deal with the R&B group Choice.
Elsewhere in her interview, Pink spoke about the importance of creating a safe space for fans at her concerts.
Asked about her thoughts on her popularity compared to her peers, she said: “We’ve sold three million tickets in the last six months. But you don’t really hear about it unless you went.
“So at the end of the day, do I give a s**t about who talks about me?
“As long as the mom and the daughter, or the dad in the ‘Pink’ t-shirt with his daughter and her three friends, had a fantastic time, or the gay couple that came together and felt super safe at my show because no one heckled them, that’s what really matters.”
Pink has always been an amazing ally to the LGBTQ+ community.
From her 2006 queer anthem “Dear Mr. President” to her regular use of award acceptance speeches to draw attention to LGBTQ+ rights, Pink has been that girl from the very beginning.
