Billy Idol Recalls Near-Death Experience From Drug Use in 1980s

Billy Idol says the closest he came to death occurred during a night of heavy drug use in the early 1980s.

During a recent appearance on comedian Bill Maher's podcast, "Club Random," Idol recounted the incident, which took place following the release of his 1983 album "Rebel Yell."

"I went back to England in triumph with the album 'Rebel Yell,'" Idol said. "I was going to do it on 'Top of the Pops' in England. I've had this big record in America."

Idol said a group of friends met him at the airport with heroin. The group went to a hotel room, where, according to Idol, everyone else in the room eventually passed out except for him and one other person.

Idol said he preferred to snort heroin rather than inject it, a choice he attributed to his mother's profession as a nurse.

Eventually, Idol was the last person in the group to lose consciousness. "When other people in the room came to, I was going blue," he said.

Idol said he was likely close to death. "If you're dying, you're going to start turning blue," he told Maher. His friends revived him by running water on him in a bath. "I survived," Idol said.

Idol, who described himself as "California sober" during the interview, said he eventually quit heroin, but the withdrawal was extremely difficult. "It's like a skeleton is trying to get out of your body," Idol said, describing the feeling of coming off the drug.

"Heroin is really great. The worst thing is getting off it. That's what stops me from going back to it-the thought of getting off. It's so terrible," he said.

Idol said he used other drugs as well. "Once you're trying to get off heroin, what do you go to? You go to something else," he said. "I started smoking crack to get off heroin. It worked."

Looking back, Idol acknowledged his drug use during that period. "I liked taking drugs back then. I enjoyed it. It took me a long time to put them in the rearview mirror, but at some point I realized you had to do that," he said.

Idol is a nominee for the 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class. He is also the subject of a new documentary, "Billy Idol Should Be Dead."