- Alcohol
- Faith
A career that spans decades and brought him five No. 1 singles from 23 studio albums, several with his siblings as The Gatlin Brothers, couldn’t keep Larry Gatlin from battling addiction. The country artist shared his story at the Moments of Change Conference in West Palm Beach in October 2012.
“I’m Larry and I’m an alcoholic,” he starts. “I was messed up as a drunk man on the wrong train. For many years my motto was, ‘Even Colombian drug lords’ children need to eat!’ But today, I would rather have a west Texas rattlesnake in my hand than a Percodan.”
The enigmatic star hops energetically from one topic to the next, joking, “Can you imagine me on cocaine? I could thread a sewing machine while it was running.”
Larry’s addiction started the way addiction does for so many. He began drinking beer in high school. He didn’t even like it the first time he tried it but he hung in there long enough to develop a taste for it. From there, he moved on to smoking dope but he found it just slowed him down.
“It was like I could see my words coming out of my mouth,” he recalls. “It was really slow and that’s not my deal. I’m not a slow cat.”
In the music world, he soon found a drug that better fit his personality. He was hanging out with a wild group of songwriters and entertainers that he says were all drug addicts. Cocaine was the currency of the time and Larry dove right in. It wasn’t long before it took control of him, though.
“I looked in the mirror and, I don’t know what the devil looks like, but I thought he looked a hell of a lot like me,” Larry says.
A caring friend escorted him to treatment in southern California, but Larry wasn’t about to give up his addiction without a fight. The counselor was wearing an orange polyester suit, Larry recalls, and he was skeptical that the staff would really understand him. When he didn’t feel better after the first night, he was incensed.
“I did all 12 of them sons of bitches this morning, so why don’t I feel any better?!,” he demanded, referring to the 12 steps. The counselor gently but firmly suggested, “Why don’t you try doing step 1 for a year and then get back to us?”
It was then that Larry went to his room and got honest. He pulled out his Bible and prayed, telling God, “If you don’t heal me of this, I’ll die drunk.”
It worked.
Today, he talks about what he went through in hopes that he can lessen the stigma of addiction. He knows that so many who struggle with addiction are worried about what others will think if they find out. Fortunately, Larry hasn’t seen the negative reaction he feared as he has become honest about his struggle with substance abuse.
“No one has said one negative thing to me. I know in my heart that people weren’t nice to me because I’m a medium-sized country music star. They were nice to me and encouraging because I was a human being,” he insists.
Today, Larry has been married for 43 years. He says, “I have a great family. I’m so grateful. I’m able to process disappointments because acceptance is the answer to all of my problems.”