Aaron Neville Recalls Heroin Addiction at Age 16 in New Memoir

*In his new memoir “Tell It Like It Is: My Story,” music icon Aaron Neville unpacks his decades-long heroin addiction.

In excerpts from the book published by People, Neville, 82, reveals that his drug addiction began as a teenager.

“I was an inquisitive kid, always looking for the next sensation, the next experience, the next adventure. For me, heroin was just one more thing like that,” Neville shares in the book.

Neville said he became hooked on heroin at age 16. 

“The first time you do heroin your brain is hooked in and wants it, even if your body isn’t craving it yet,” the New Orleans native explains. “It’s a kind of curiosity, and then it turns into a yearning that you shake off on the weekends, and then before you know it, you’re in the game, running and looking for it everywhere.”

 

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During the 1980s, the singer went to rehab to kick the drug.

“I was really tired of running,” Neville admits in the book.

“I drew a picture of myself on a cross with syringes as the nails. It was killing me slowly. I was ready to kick for good. I was excited and afraid. I knew what mainlining did to me,” he added. “I knew what withdrawal feels like. But begging off the drugs entirely — that was a new venture. I was 40 years old, and I hadn’t been clean since junior high school.”

 

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After rehab, Neville never touched heroin again but later struggled with prescription opioid abuse, People reports. 

He is now sober and living with his wife on their farm.

Neville’s memoir, “Tell It Like It Is: My Story,” drops Sept. 5.

READ MORE: Telling it Like it is: Aaron Neville Duo Impresses Los Angeles Audience (EUR Review)

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