Alice Cooper Opens Up About Past Alcohol Addiction in Clip From Audible’s ‘Who I Really Am’

Alice Cooper opens up about his battle with alcohol addiction — a problem that reached its pinnacle in the late Seventies — in an excerpt from the shock rocker’s Who I Really Am: Diary of a Vampire, the latest installment in Audible’s Words + Music series.

“I was drinking more and more. I would get to the show, I would look at my costume lying out, I would remember crying, looking at it, knowing what I had to do in order to get that show done,” Cooper admits in the clip. “The only place I felt comfortable was onstage, so it was a nightmare getting me into my costume, getting me on stage, and once I got there, I felt great. But it was the only two hours during the day that I felt well at all.”

He continues, “I tried many cures, lots of different doctors, lots of different methods, nothing worked. It just kept getting worse. I loved doing the show, I hated doing the show. I loved my life, but I hated my life. I could be so much better than this.”

Who I Really Am: Diary of a Vampire premiered Thursday on Audible, with the two-hour recording part-memoir and part-musical performance: In addition to reminiscing about his life and revealing details about his late-night hangs with fellow rock legends, Cooper also shares new recordings of hits like “I’m Eighteen,” “School’s Out,” and “Poison.”