Dougie Poynter has “lost two years” of his memory as a result of his Valium addiction.
Dougie Poynter
The McFly bassist - who attempted suicide amid a battle with drugs and alcohol in 2011 - recently opened up on 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 has opened up even further, admitting his battle has left him without large portions of his memory from 2016 to 2018, when he eventually checked himself into rehab.
He said: “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?’”
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.
He told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “It needs to be controlled because it’s such a slow process.
“It was certainly an intervention. I don’t remember kicking up a fuss but . . . I don’t remember much really.”
The ‘Happiness’ hitmaker, 32, opened up 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”.
He explained:"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.”
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