Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley Says Alcoholism Nearly Killed Him
Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley had been hitting the bottle so hard that he was recently hospitalized for a month. The singer and guitarist posted a note to his website on Friday explaining to fans why he had been “M.I.A.” of late, and said that his liver and kidneys collapsed after years of hard drinking.
Sum 41: Teenage Rock & Roll Machine
“I was drinking hard every day. Until one night. I was sitting at home, poured myself another drink around midnight and was about to watch a movie when all of a sudden I didn’t feel so good,” Whibley wrote in a detailed letter titled “Rock Bottom” above several photos of himself in the hospital, hooked up to IVs. “I then collapsed to the ground unconscious. My fiancé got me rushed to the hospital where they put me into the intensive care unit.
“I was stuck with needles and i.v.’s all over. I was completely sedated the first week. When I finally woke up the next day I had no idea where I was. My mum and stepdad were standing over me. I was so freaked out. My liver and kidney’s collapsed on me. Needless to say it scared me straight. I finally realized I can’t drink anymore. If I have one drink the docs say I will die. I’m not preaching or anything but just always drink responsibly. I didn’t, and look where that got me. (I never thought I would ever say that! haha)”
Sum 41’s last album was Screaming Bloody Murder, which the Canadian rockers released in 2011, the year after Whibley’s divorce from Avril Lavigne. Despite the trauma of his hospitalization, Whibley says that the experience has inspired him to make music again. “I already have a few song ideas for new songs,” he wrote. “Soon it will be time to start making an album and getting back to touring again.”