facebook twitter RSS
HOT TOPICS: DSM-5Leaving AALegalizing Drugs

Steven Tyler "Snorted Half of Peru"

The now-sober rocker says he once blew through $5-6 million in cocaine.

Image: 

Will Peru ever recover? Photo via

By Ben Feuerherd

02/22/13

| Share

We all knew that Steven Tyler blew through a lot of blow back in the day. But what we didn't know is that he actually inhaled half of Peru—one of the world's top cocaine producing countries. The rocker's recent memoir states that he spent close to $20 million on drugs throughout his career. In a recent interview with Australia's 60 Minutes, Tyler says that number is an exaggeration, but his actual guess is nothing to scoff at: "Probably, realistically, [it was closer to] 5 or 6 [million], easy," he says. "But it doesn't matter. You could also say I snorted half of Peru, but, you know, it's what we did." The Aerosmith front man and current American Idol judge has made no secret of his past drug use and struggles to get sober, including numerous stints in rehab. "I needed that cocaine. I needed it," he told Today in 2011. "It took my children away, it took my marriages away. I was on my knees." After getting clean in the 1980s, Tyler relapsed after getting addicted to medication he was taking to treat hepatitis C. In 2009, he checked himself into rehab for the eighth time, and says he has been sober ever since. Tyler has said his Idol gig satiates his one remaining addiction: "I think I'm addicted to adrenaline," he said last year. "I'm one of those people that—obviously, since I've wound up in rehab eight times—take dangerous things and jump in with both feet."

Find a Rehab
Most Popular
The Rehab Review
Cliffside Malibu
 
 
 
 

The “beach-house-relaxed” Cliffside Malibu claims to provide an oasis for recovering addicts and alcoholics. And that’s just what you'll get—if you’ve got the cash.

Newport Academy
 
 
 
 
 

This SoCal rehab fosters a regimented but respectful recovery environment, where teens learn how to live sober through plenty of 12-step meetings and life-skills classes—not to mention "equine-assisted psychotherapy" and mixed martial arts.

Reflections
 
 
 
 

This exclusive Northern California rehab is all about client choice—as well as golf outings, Buddhist field trips and keeping up with the office.

the fix tv