After spending years at rock bottom, Scott Stapp is grateful
to have finally reached a “Higher” ground.
The former Creed frontman opened up about his personal
upheaval and new outlook in a recent sit-down
with Access Hollywood guest correspondent Scott Evans, first touching upon the dark struggle he
endured with both substance abuse and mental illness that led to the group
breaking up in 2004.
His problems continued after Creed disbanded, Stapp said, and culminated in a near-death experience.
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“I’d been battling, trying to get sober since November 18, 2006,” Stapp said, citing the specific date as one he remembers for a profound reason.
“I almost died that day,” he explained.
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“I fell off the penthouse floor of the Delano hotel in
South Beach, Miami,” Stapp said. “I could have fallen 16 floors to my death,
but [instead] I landed on a ledge 40 feet down.”
The rocker sustained serious injuries, including a fractured
skull and broken hip. His life may have been spared, however, when rapper T.I.
discovered him before his condition crossed a point of no return.
“It’s a small world, isn’t it?” Stapp mused of his rescue.
The singer said his physical recovery from the incident was
grueling. He explained he couldn’t walk for
“10 or 11 months,” but the slow process gave the
rocker an opportunity to make an important decision.
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“I knew right there that changes had to be made,”
he said. “But I didn’t understand what a hold that the disease of
alcoholism and addiction can have.”
He went on to describe his fluctuating patterns of drug and
alcohol use in subsequent years, calling himself a “binger” who would
stay clean for “six months, three months” before succumbing to
destructive habits once again.
Feeling helpless, along with “tremendous remorse, guilt
and shame” over his behavior, Stapp only
spiraled further.
In 2014, Stapp said he was
“so detached from reality” that his wife, Jaclyn, took drastic
action.
In a now-infamous video shared at the time, Stapp claimed he was penniless and living out of his
truck. Most troubling, perhaps, were his claims that Jaclyn had reported to police that Stapp believed
he was part of the CIA and had made threatening remarks about President Obama.
While the memory is a difficult one, Stapp said his confessional gave both Jaclyn and his medical team
“a clearer picture of what was really going on.”
Ultimately, the musician’s doctors discovered he was
bipolar.
“When it finally sunk in, it was…’Thank you,'” Stapp said of the diagnosis. “That’s when the
acceptance process began.”
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Stapp was prescribed a
regimented dose of medications for the disorder, and has been on the upswing
ever since.
Now, he’s feeling well enough to refocus on music. More than two years after releasing his solo album, “Proof of Life,” the singer embarked on a nationwide tour for the project this month.
“It is surreal,” he said of
returning to the stage again. “It feels like such a gift, like a second
chance at doing what I love.”
— Erin Biglow
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