The 63-year-old rapper opens up about his sobriety journey.
Flavor Flav is opening up about his struggles with addiction and the financial toll it took on him. The 63-year-old rapper, whose real name is William Jonathan Drayton, Jr., got candid during a recent podcast interview with Off the Record With DJ Akademiks.
He shared that he was addicted to cocaine, crack, weed, alcohol, and cigarettes "for 18 years straight."
"There was a time that I was spending $2,400 to $2,600 a day for six years straight, you do the math," he said. "That's how much I spent on drugs."
He also spoke about being a drug dealer, adding, "I ain't gonna lie, I sold a lot. But I was my best customer. I had a lot of money at the time too, I was just doing the wrong things with my money."
The father of eight discussed his sobriety journey, saying, "I'm proud to sit here and talk about it today because I've been clean, off of [cocaine and crack] for the last 15 years. Not only that, but I feel proud to say I haven't drunk alcohol for the last two and a half years. I haven't smoked cigarettes in the last two and a half years. So I've been clean and sober."
As for how he survived his addiction, Flav said, "I guess God wanted me to live. And he knows that I'm a mouthpiece to the world. So, I feel that God let me live through that, so that way, I could teach people about the mistakes that I made. And hopefully, they won't make them later on in life."
Flav has previously opened up about his substance abuse issues in his 2011 memoir, Flavor Flav: The Icon The Memoir.
In late 2021, ET spoke with Flav as he celebrated one year of sobriety. "I feel so great inside right now, and this is something I always wanted for myself," he shared.
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