Busted rock star Matt Willis has opened up on his battle with addiction, pin-pointing the start of his struggles to the age of just seven.
Shunning claims that his fame as a rock star was ultimately to blame for his struggles with drink and drugs, Matt actually revealed he used an asthma inhaler as a child to 'get high'.
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And Matt believes that his addiction and numerous stints in rehab would have happened no matter which career path he followed.
Speaking on podcast The Naked Professors to presenter Matt Johnson and life coach Ben Bidwell, Matt explained: "I was in trouble before the band ended, I was a massive alcoholic.
"I don't think being in a band made me the way I am. I would have been the same if I worked in Tesco or a bank, I am an addict all the way through."
Matt explained that 'getting high' at aged seven was a way for him to hide his feelings rather than deal with them happily and healthily.
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He continued: "Everything that takes me away from feeling the way I feel is a problem for me because I cannot deal with how I feel, so I will do anything possible to take that away and change the way I feel.
"I was mildly asthmatic as a kid and I used to hide under my duvet and take as many hits of my inhaler as I possibly could when I was about seven."
When the dad-of-three was older, he used cocaine despite 'hating everything about it'.
Matt said: "I hated it, hated everything about cocaine, hated the way it made me feel, hated everything about it but I couldn't stop doing it which is madness.
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"It is my illness. You have this hole and you try and shovel everything in it to fill it but the hole is never ending."
The Busted star has been to rehab three times, and says his wife Emma Willis has played a pivotal role in helping him stay sober for the past eight years.
For more help and support on addiction, visit Recovery here.
Topics: Emma Willis, Celebrity News, Health