Singer Pink says drug overdose at 16 nearly killed her

Pink has opened up about suffering a near-fatal drug overdose when she was a teenager. Photo: AFP

Pink is getting candid about suffering a near-fatal drug overdose when she was a teenager, just before landing a record deal.

The Raise Your Glass hitmaker sat down with 60 Minutes for an interview that aired Sunday (Oct 22) evening, in which she said she was an open book and that no question was off the table. The 44-year-old singer, born Alecia Beth Moore, then revisited a fateful Thanksgiving nearly three decades ago.

"Thanksgiving of 1995, I was at a rave and I overdosed. I was on, oh boy – ecstasy, angel dust, crystal, all kinds of things," she recalled. "Then I was out. Done. Too much."

The Grammy-winning singer has been open in the past about her overdose, saying it was a pivotal moment. Moore told Shape magazine in 2012 that a DJ offered the young singer a performance slot during a hip-hop night.

"His only caveat was that I couldn't do drugs, so I didn't," she said at the time. "That's the thing with me – once I make up my mind, I'm done."

Pink landed a record deal with LaFace Records shortly after and launched her solo career in 2000.

Talking with 60 Minutes, she attributed her teenage substance abuse to a volatile environment at home. "I was a punk, and I had a mouth. I had a chip on my shoulder," she explained.

"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. That was off the rails."

In 2013, Moore made her acting debut in Thanks For Sharing, a sex addiction comedy. She starred alongside Mark Ruffalo, Josh Gad and Tim Robbins as a woman who attends Sexaholics Anonymous meetings to help control her desire to sleep with strange men.

Moore pulled from her own experience with addiction for the role. She's also used it to inspire her music, with songs including Just Like A Pill and Who Knew, which was written after the singer lost two friends to drug overdoses.

On Oct 12, Pink set off on her Trustfall tour, opening in Sacramento, California, just days after finishing the North American leg of her Summer Carnival tour. (While she was in London with the latter tour, attendees threw cheese and ashes at her onstage.) Trustfall, Pink's ninth studio album, will be released in February.

Despite having to postpone several shows because of family medical issues and a bad respiratory infection, Pink is slated to resume performing on Oct 25 with a show at the Ball Arena in Denver. She has 15 more dates across the United States and Canada after that. – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service