‘It’s a huge blur, it’s strange’: McFly’s Dougie Poynter reveals he lost two years of his memory because of his Valium addiction
- The McFly star, 32, became addicted to the anti-anxiety drug
- Dougie began to take ‘lethal doses’ after the band’s hiatus in 2016
- For the next two years, the bassist says he lost huge gaps in his memory because of his drug addiction
- Dougie checked himself into rehab and went to counselling with his bandmates
Dougie Poynter has revealed he has ‘lost two years’ of his memory as a result of his Valium addiction.
The McFly bassist – who attempted suicide amid a battle with drugs and alcohol in 2011 – recently spoke about his addiction to the anti-anxiety drug, which he began to take ‘lethal doses’ of following the band’s hiatus in 2016.
And now, Dougie, 32, has admitted his battle has left him with huge gaps in his memory from 2016 to 2018, when he eventually checked himself into rehab.
Candid: Dougie Poynter has revealed he has ‘lost two years’ of his memory as a result of his Valium addiction (pictured in 2019)
He told The Sun: ‘It’s a slope that you don’t really realise you’re slipping down until it’s too late. Then climbing out of that hole is a very, very long process.
When asked if he is unable to remember the period, he added: ‘Honestly, yeah. I mean, you get flashbacks, but it’s a huge blur. It’s strange.
‘That’s something which is really hard to come to terms with, literally losing two years. Two years just went as like a weird dream. Coming out the other end was like, ‘What? Where’s my band?’
Memory loss: The bassist, 32, has admitted his battle has left him with huge gaps in his memory from 2016 to 2018 (pictured with McFly bandmates in 2019)
Dougie went to rehab after an intervention from his band mates, and said he thinks he agreed to go into a treatment centre without ‘kicking up a fuss’, although he can’t remember for sure.
The Happiness hitmaker speaks about his addiction in the upcoming documentary McFly: All About You, where he said the relapse was the closest he ever came to ‘losing myself’.
Speaking candidly about the issue, he said of that time: ‘On the one hand I felt inspired because friends in LA would take me to see other bands and stuff.
‘On the other hand, I was like, “But my band’s broken and it’s all my fault”. Valium was a way of just making all that disappear.’
Tough: In July, the musicians admitted they were ‘broken’ during their time apart from one another (pictured in 2004)
Talking alongside him about the issue, bandmate Danny Jones went on: ‘He went from being quite sketchy to being super chill, like almost dribbling and I was like, “There’s something wrong man”.’
Harry Judd said he went to confront Dougie about the issue, asking if he’d been ‘taking something’ as he could tell something wasn’t right.
‘He sort of told me what he’d been taking. He was like, at that lethal dosage,’ Harry said of their talk.
Back together: Earlier this month, the members of McFly thrilled fans when they confirmed they will be releasing new music for the first time in a decade (pictured in 2004)
As a result Dougie checked into rehabilitation, and he later asked Tom Fletcher to come to counselling with him – with Harry and Dan joining shortly after.
Referring to Dougie’s parents’ split at the age of 15 which saw him move in with the band, Tom added: ‘We’re all he had to cling on to when there were tough things going on in his life.’
Discussing their breakthroughs in the counselling sessions, he said: ‘We realised Dougie did nothing wrong. And that’s the biggest lesson from all this.’
Since the band have got back together, Dougie claimed he is feeling much more fulfilled as he said: ‘it’s all I really know and all I really want to know.’
McFly: All About Us airs on Saturday at 6.40pm.
Help: Dougie checked into rehabilitation, and he asked Tom Fletcher to come to counselling with him, with Harry and Dan joining shortly after, which helped him realise he wasn’t to blame