Celebrity Spotlight

Metallica’s James Hetfield credits music with saving his life

The rock ‘n roll lifestyle may have a bad reputation, but Metallica front man James Hetfield says that music saved his life and help him escape addiction.

“Playing music saves my life. Every day it saves my life,” he said in an interview with Recovery Road. “When I'm able to write a riff, write some lyrics, stuff like that. It's a way I connect with the world.”

Hetfield’s time abusing drugs and alcohol was extremely dark, he said.

“You wouldn't really like me if you knew my story, if you knew what horrible things I've done,” he says in the video interview. “I'm coming to grips with that, 'cause I have groups of people that I'm able to share all my horrible stuff with. Shameful, extremely shameful, dark stuff. Some of it is things I've taken from my parents and carried it a little further. Other ones, I've been able to drop some of that. Other ones I've picked up on my own and created. Shame's a big thing for me.”

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