Legendary rock musician Alice Cooper shared how he overcame alcoholism, cocaine and the secret to his long-lasting marriage.
Rock stars are known for their wild, crazy and outlandish lifestyles, living life to the extreme in every way imaginable. Wild parties, tons of drugs and copious amounts of alcohol are par for the course for rock musicians. Words like “stop,” “slow down” and “moderation” are not part of their vocabularies.
Alice Cooper knows this rock-and-roll lifestyle very well. For years, he lived it, traveling the road, playing one sold-out show after another to screaming, adoring crowds. Eventually, Alice says he developed a terrible drinking habit, becoming an alcoholic. He was slowly but surely killing himself.
To make matters even worse, Alice said he also got into drugs. The “No More Mr. Nice Guy” singer became a frequent and heavy user of cocaine. It was at some point during this period that his wife had had enough of his heavy alcohol and drug use. She returned home to Chicago, leaving him in L.A.
She wanted to see changes, and eventually, she gave him a task that would change his life forever.
“In order to get her back, she says, ‘Here’s part of it, we have to go to Christian counseling, and you have to set it up, not me. I want to see you set this up.’ So, I did,” Alice said in a clip on YouTube. “And we went into Christian counseling and got our marriage back together and started going to church.”
Alice added that “the most amazing thing” came from counseling and attending church. His desire and appetite for alcohol instantly vanished.
“Woke up the next morning, and there’s no craving,” he said. “For 37 years, there was no craving. It went; it was gone. The doctor said, ‘It was like you had cancer one day, and the next day you didn’t have cancer.’”
He added that in addition to his craving for alcohol disappearing, he also never experienced any withdrawals. Alice praises Jesus Christ for saving his life.
“To me, He basically said, ‘Be a rock star, but follow Me. I don’t care if you’re a rock star, just, you know, your life, your lifestyle is going to be your testimony.’”
As far as his marriage, Alice and Sheryl have been married for 43 years. The rock star says having “total trust in each other” has helped them sustain their relationship.
“You know, I always tell people, ‘Marry the person you’re in love with, don’t marry the person you love.’ There’s a big commitment there; it means you’re involved, you’re both connected,” he said. “My wife always says, ‘It’s not 50-50, it’s 100-100.’”
