Pete Davidson has opened up about the intensity of his drug addiction, sharing that he hit a low point during the summer of 2023. A year after leaving “Saturday Night Live,” he found himself grappling with unresolved trauma.
In an interview with Variety published on September 30, he noted that “playing yourself and constantly living in your own crap” led him to use drugs as a way to escape the pain. He candidly revealed the severity of his addiction.
“It was K. I was getting liquid and cooking it,” he confessed. His substance use included a range of drugs: acid, mushrooms, whippets, and constant weed smoking, along with daily pill consumption.
Davidson explained that he became such a frequent user that he eventually stopped feeling the effects of drugs. “It got scary because I didn’t feel high,” he added, realizing that when he wasn’t using, he actually felt high. This recognition highlighted a serious problem.
His mother, Amy, intervened, encouraging him to seek help. “Her biggest fear was waking up one day to see on the news that something bad had happened to me,” Davidson recounted.
Recognizing the emotional toll his addiction took on his mom, he acknowledged the need for change. “I reached a point where I couldn’t do that to her anymore,” he stated.
He entered rehab and stepped back from professional obligations to focus on his well-being. Davidson reflected, “I was part of the problem of what I hated the most, which was the invasiveness around my personal life.”
After multiple rehab stints motivated by others, he finally felt ready to genuinely shift his lifestyle.
“When I turned 30, and I was there, it was a real low point. Nothing much was going on with my career… I can’t do it anymore. It can’t be for anyone or for a job. You really have to want it, and when you’re done, you’re done,” he expressed.
Now sober, he shared, “I don’t mess with drugs anymore. It’s been two or three years since I did really hard stuff and about a year or more since I stopped using weed.” He admitted that quitting weed was surprisingly the hardest.
Fatherhood has played a crucial role in keeping him grounded. “Anytime there’s ever a thought, I look at my phone background and go, ‘Oh yeah, no,’” he explained.
Alongside his sobriety, he’s also made efforts to alter his physical appearance by removing some tattoos, particularly those that covered up old scars from cutting. Yet, he’s not erasing everything; he plans to keep his tattoo of Hillary Clinton. “She stays. That’s my dog. I love Hillary, man. She’s awesome and a good friend,” he said.
