Stevie Nicks Once Called Herself the Worst Addict — Glimpse into Her Battle with Bad Habits

Iconic Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks opened up about her decades-long struggle with cocaine addiction, and a dependence on prescription drugs.

Back in the 70s, Stevie Nicks was the goddess of rock, fronting the band Fleetwood Mac, with the world at her feet. It all started back in high school, writing songs with her sweetheart Lindsey Buckingham which would take them to the top -- and send Nicks on a downward spiral to the depths of addiction.

Nicks admits that she consumed $1,000,000 in cocaine and wouldn't go anywhere without her supply in a golden diamond-studded bottle. But the constant high nearly caused Nicks' death and led to the end of her relationship with the man she considers the love of her life.

Nicks, who revealed that Walsh was the only man she would ever marry, and considers him the greatest love of her life, attributes the end of their relationship to their addiction to cocaine

Stevie Nicks at the 2019 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony in New York City | Source: Getty Images

GLITTER

In 1975, Buckingham was approached by British rock band Fleetwood Mac and invited to join as their guitarist. Buckingham agreed, on the condition that his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks be brought on board as a vocalist.

The band's new lineup took Fleetwood Mac to stardom, with their new album "Fleetwood Mac," taking them to #1 on the US charts. Stardom was the new lifestyle, but it wreaked havoc on the members' private lives.

Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks in 1977 | Source: Getty Images

ADDICTION

In the heady days of rock stardom, drugs and alcohol dominated the lives of the band, and Nicks' relationship with Buckingham fell apart. Nicks was to embark on a series of love affairs that plunged her deeper into a dissolute lifestyle, to the point where her cocaine addiction threatened her life. Nicks admitted:

“All of us were drug addicts. But there was a point where I was the worst drug addict. . . . I was a girl, I was fragile, and I was doing a lot of coke. And I had that hole in my nose. So it was dangerous.”

Close friend, musician Tom Petty recalled those years and remembered trying to talk sense into Nicks, who was consuming cocaine constantly, encouraging her to get help. He revealed:

“I was very worried about her. To the point that if the phone did ring and they said, ‘Stevie died,’ I wouldn’t have been surprised.”

A HOLE IN HER NOSE

Nicks' cocaine consumption triggered crippling headaches, so she dissolved aspirin in water and snorted it. The result was a hole in her nose cartilage the size of a dime.

It was rumored that at the height of her addiction, Nicks would consume the cocaine through her intimate parts, since she could no longer snort it through her nose.

DESTRUCTIVE LOVE

But if cocaine was wrecking her health, love was destroying her life. In 1977, Nicks was having a love affair with the founder of the Eagles, but she was in love with Mick Fleetwood.

He was not only the leader of her band; he was married to model Jenny Boyd, George Harrison's sister-in-law. The couple had been together since their teens and had two daughters.

It was an impossible situation that placed an incredible amount of pressure on Nicks' already fragile psyche. The relationship ended, but Nicks plunged into another equally disastrous love affair with yet another member of the Eagles, Joe Walsh. Nicks and Walsh were together for three years until the Eagles guitarist walked out.

Nicks, who revealed that Walsh was the only man she would ever marry, and considers him the greatest love of her life, attributes the end of their relationship to their addiction to cocaine. Walsh believed that they enabled each other as addicts, and if they remained together, one of them would die.

DEPRESSION

Walsh's leaving plunged Nicks into a dark depression, and her psychiatrist put her on Klonopin, slowly increasing the dosage over the next 8 years until the singer felt incapacitated. An epiphany led Nicks to check herself into rehab, and she has been clean ever since. She declared:

"I want anybody who hears a doctor say 'Would you like me to write you a prescription of Klonopin?' to get up and run out of the room screaming.'"

Nicks advises anyone who is now entering the entertainment world and considering trying cocaine to set aside $30,000 first to pay for rehab costs, and to be prepared to watch a large chunk of their cash and their lives vanish up their nose.

She should know. Stevie Nicks has been there, riding the wave of success, hitting the lows of addiction. At 72, she is still writing, singing, and living her best life, stone-cold sober.

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