Music
24 Oct 23

P!nk opens up about near-fatal drug overdose at 16

P!NK @The RDS 18/6/19

P!nk has revealed that she almost died at a rave in 1995 due to a drug overdose, in a new interview with 60 Minutes.

American singer-songwriter P!nk, has revealed that she suffered a near-fatal drug overdose at the age of 16, just weeks before signing a record deal.

In a recent 60 Minutes appearance, the singer opened up about her troubled home life and struggles with substance abuse in the past.

“I was a punk, I had a mouth. I had a chip on my shoulder," the 'So What' hitmaker confessed.

“Basically, I grew up in a house where every day, my parents were screaming at each other, throwing things, hated each other, And then I got into drugs, I was selling drugs – and then I was kicked out of the house, I dropped out of high school. I was off the rails."

“Thanksgiving of 1995, I was at a rave, and I overdosed. I was on, oh boy – ecstasy, angel dust, crystal, all kinds of things,” P!nk shared. “Then I was out. Done. Too much."

Host Cecilia Vega then asked P!nk if the overdose had almost resulted in her death, to which the singer replied, "yeah."

The pivotal and traumatic incident marked the last time P!nk used hard drugs, having been sober ever since.

Shortly after the overdose, she was offered a performance slot at a hip-hop night in exchange for a deal with the DJ. “Come back tomorrow, I’ll give you a guest spotlight,” she says he told her, with the caveat: "you can never touch drugs again.”

She was also given a record deal with LaFace Records as part of the short-lived R&B girl group Choice soon after, before emerging as a solo artist in 2000.

P!nk also made comments regarding aging and her career in the music industry, having recently postponed tour dates in Canada due to a respiratory infection.

“I keep demanding more and more and more from myself physically, emotionally, spiritually, vocally. I want to raise the bar all the time,” she said.

“When they say a woman has to slow down, become smaller, take up less space, calm down – no. Absolutely not. Why can’t we ride it till the wheels fall off?”

“That’s what I plan on doing..."

Watch the full 60 Minutes interview with P!nk below: