The 46-year-old musician received lots of criticism for casting Maddie Ziegler in the film as an autistic character.
Sia is revealing her struggles after the backlash surrounding Music, the film that marked her directorial debut. The 46-year-old performer briefly talked about her issues in a New York Times profile for pal Kathy Griffin, who was discussing her own battle with addiction.
“I was suicidal and relapsed and went to rehab,” Sia said of the time after the film's 2021 release.
She credited Griffin with helping with her recovery.
“She saved my life," Sia said of the comedian.
Music follows a young girl on the autism spectrum, who is played by Sia's longtime child muse, Maddie Ziegler. But the casting was widely criticized as Ziegler isn't autistic herself, and disability rights groups also criticized the film's portrayal of autistic people.
Sia has been candid in the past about her substance abuse issues. In 2018, she celebrated eight years of sobriety, tweeting, "Eight years sober today. I love you, keep going. You can do it."
In 2013, she told Billboard, “All I wanted to do was write for pop stars. For one reason or another, it never happened for me. Then I got seriously addicted to Vicodin and Oxycodone, and I was always a drinker but I didn’t know I was an alcoholic. I was really unhappy being an artist and I was getting sicker and sicker.”
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