Former American Idol judge Steven Tyler admitted to some very naughty behaviour in a recent interview, confessing to spending millions on drugs, as well as being a victim of bullying.
“Probably, realistically, 5 or 6 (million), easy … You could also say I snorted half of Peru, but, you know, it’s what we did,” Tyler revealed during an interview on Australia’s 60 Minutes on Sunday alongside Aerosmith bandmate Joe Perry. Tyler previously discussed his drug addiction to Matt Lauer, saying cocaine ruined his life and cost him marriages and relationships with his children.
Tyler, who judged two seasons of American Idol alongside Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson, has been in and out of rehab, and was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 2003, which he attributes to contracting as a result of intravenous drug use.
The Aerosmith lead singer and Perry acquired the nicknames The Toxic Twins due to their rampant drug use both on and offstage in the 1970s. The abuse led to a drop in record sales and a crumbling of the group’s creative output.
Tyler also outlined how he was bullied as a child living in New York City.
“I was called terrible names when I was a kid. Pinhead, and n***er-lips, for a white boy who grew up in the Bronx, that’s terrible. Now I’m honoured by that,” Tyler told the 60 Minutes interviewer. “(I was) beaten up, spit at, (called) queer. So we got a band together.”
Meanwhile, Tyler’s old buddy Randy Jackson and new judges Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey and Keith Urban continue their American Idol adventure this week; the sudden death rounds take place on Wednesday and Thursday.
American Idol airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CTV/Fox and Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on CTV Two/Fox.
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