Pink Turned Her Life Around After Near-Fatal Drug Overdose at 16, Strongly Advocates Mental Health
Alecia Beth Moore a.k.a. Pink is known for her rebellious rock-inspired tracks and gymnastics based live music concerts. The What About Us hitmaker has sold over 60 million albums, 75 million singles, and 2.4 million DVDs worldwide over her career. However, Pink recently disclosed that she experienced a near-death drug overdose incident when she was sixteen years old. The Just Give Me a Reason singer claimed to have taken "ecstasy, angel dust, crystal, all kinds of things" during a wild Thanksgiving rave party while discussing the near-fatal incident that occurred in November 1995 on 60 Minutes. The 44-year-old Grammy winner remembered it saying, "Then I was out." "Okay. Way too much." When the host inquired whether she “almost died,” Pink nodded in agreement saying, “Yeah.”
As per Page Six, she went to describe her troubled past: “I was a punk. I had a mouth. I had a chip on my shoulder,” Pink told Cecilia Vega in the segment. “Basically, I grew up in a house where every day my parents were screaming at each other, throwing things, hated each other. And then I got into drugs. I was selling drugs. And then I was kicked out of the house. I dropped out of high school. I was off the rails.” Pink stated that she turned her life around as a result of the fatal overdose. “Thanksgiving of 1995 I was at a rave, and I overdosed,” she recalled. “I was on — oh boy — ecstasy, angel dust, crystal, all kinds of things. And then I was out. Done. Too much.” As per The Independent, soon after, Pink joined the brief R&B girl trio Choice and inked a record deal with LaFace Records. In 2000, she began her successful solo career. She said in an interview with Shape Magazine back in 2012 that although her overdose didn't put her in the hospital, it did serve as the wake-up call she needed to change her life. “I remember getting up off the floor in the morning – and that was the last time I ever touched a drug again,” she had revealed at the time.
Even after leaving her wild days behind her, the Just like Fire songstress stated that she is constantly plagued by the memories of pals who died from heroin overdoses, notably Sekou Harris, who passed away at the age of 14. Earlier this year, Pink had shared on the Kelly Clarkson Show: “I lost several friends, unfortunately, to overdose, and the second one was very, very, very close to me, and I loved him very much.” She has since become an outspoken supporter of mental health and opened up to her fans about her personal challenges.
Pink also shared during the 60 Minutes interview that she prefers to be "approachable" about the subject so that her followers may "connect" with her. “I guess I look at it in a very specific way: If I’m a mystery to you, how can I expect you to connect with me? And if I’m a person that’s desperate for connection, then why would mystery be interesting to me?” she said. “I want to know you. I want you to know me.”
