Belinda Carlisle found herself playing to a half-empty room after being dropped by her record label a day after she turned 40.
Belinda Carlisle has opened up about how her career went downhill
The Go-Go's star has opened up about how her career when downhill while she was battling substance abuse issues, revealing she hit rock bottom when she walked onstage at a gig in Nottingham, England and only 20 people turned up to see her perform.
She told the Independent newspaper: "I was dropped the day after I turned 40. For the first time [in my career] I had no record company ... I’ll never forget – and this was about a year before I got sober – a show in Nottingham where about 20 people showed up. There wasn’t even a backstage area, so my dressing room was sort of a big, dirty closet. I thought to myself, ‘Is this where [my career] ends?'"
The 65-year-old singer kicked her addictions in 2005. She has been sober ever since and gone on to rebuild her career. Belinda added of her struggle: "Anybody who finally gets sober after years and years of addiction will tell you life can feel really amazing afterwards."
She previously opened up to the Guardian newspaper about her battle with cocaine, admitting she felt lucky to be alive.
Belinda explained: "After three decades of cocaine addiction I can’t believe I’m not dead. I should actually look like the Phantom of the Opera with just two holes in the front of my face. I’m contrary by nature and think my addiction owed a lot to that. I always wanted to be a bad girl. I loved all the edgy drug films that made me want to go out and do drugs. I was just born that way."
She also said discovering her spiritual side helped her leave drug abuse behind, adding: "Discovering Buddhism and chanting a few years before I got sober at 47 was so powerful. It was like holding a mirror up and realising I was in serious trouble."
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