Tommy Lee Was Drinking Two Gallons of Vodka a Day Before Rehab Stint
Motley Crue are among rock's most notorious party bands. Drummer Tommy Lee, who will release his solo rap album, Andro, later this month, revealed that after the band's farewell tour in 2015, he was consuming upward of two gallons of vodka each day, which prompted a stay in a rehab clinic to tackle the issue.
Speaking with Yahoo Entertainment, Lee described his alcohol intake as "crazy" and noted that he had previously "been sober for four years" and has a history of being "on and off" substance dependance "for a long time."
"I go through these phases where I just want to live a different life and fuck all the dumb shit," the drummer confessed. "And then I decide, ‘You know what? I don't want to live like that anymore,'" he continued, stating that after what was intended to be Crue's last tour, he was at home and "literally did nothing" and would "just fucking drink."
It wasn't immediately apparent for the rocker just how much alcohol he was consuming at the time as he said, "I didn't notice it until towards the end of it, when I was like, ‘Oh dude, I’ve got to stop. This is fucking insane.’ Like, I was drinking just out of boredom."
Describing his usual routine, Lee detailed, "I would just wake up and be just building [a glass with] just all vodka and just a little eyedropper of cranberry or lemonade. I was drinking two gallons — not pints, not quarts, but gallons, the big-handles — a day. That's fucking crazy. ... I just realized, ‘Whoa dude, you're drinking enough to like, you could probably die.’ And it wasn't even fazing me. ... I just became sort of immune to it."
Lee credits Brittany Furlan, whom he has since married, with his personal awakening during this time of heavy drinking. "She was like, ‘Baby, I don't think I've ever even seen anybody drink that much. Like, you're kind of scaring me. … Like, are you going to wake up? Am I going to wake up to, like, you not breathing?’ And I was like, ‘That sucks. That's not cool to have you have you worry like that. And it's worrying me.’ But yeah, she was definitely concerned, and her concern obviously helped in my decision to just go get out of here: I bailed for over a month and just was like, ‘That's it, I'm done for a while.'"
In an effort to better himself, Lee checked into a rehab facility and is now encroaching his one-year anniversary of being sober. Like many who have struggled with alcohol dependence, sobriety is a day-by-day endeavor. "I don't know if it's a forever thing," admitted Lee, "But for now, I'm not drinking vodka today."
If you or someone you know has an alcohol dependence, visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services website for assistance.
Lee's Andro album will be out on Oct. 16 and more info can be found here. As for Motley Crue, their reunion tour, alongside Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, has been pushed to 2021.
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