Florence Welch has opened up about her journey with sobriety in a new podcast interview.
The lead singer of Florence + The Machine has been sober for eight years, having realised that she had issues with alcohol during the band’s rise to fame.
Speaking on the Spotify Original podcast, The Way We Are with Munroe Bergdorf, Welch reflected on her current life without alcohol.
“In terms of navigating being in the public eye, I think sobriety is the best thing I ever did,” she explained.
“It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I had a problem with drinking because I was one of those drinkers where it was all or nothing. If I enjoy my drinking, I can't control it and if I control my drinking, I don’t enjoy it.”
According to Welch, the time around the release of her sophomore album, Ceremonials, in 2011, was a key moment in realising that her relationship with alcohol needed controlling.
“It was like the glamour and the grandeur of Ceremonials that created this shield of how chaotic it was behind the scenes which is why I think that record is so dark,” she said.
In response, Bergdorf told Welch that the album was her favourite and helped her through a “rocky” period in her own life as she was transitioning.
Welch then said that the darkness in the record came from her feelings of struggle with alcohol – but life without alcohol wasn’t immediately easy either.
“Sobriety was really lonely,” she noted. “I had got into music to drink, you know, these two things that I loved the most. Singing, partying and alcohol are the things I was good at.”
Though she admits that the first two years of sobriety were “a really hard slog”, Welch shared a message of encouragement for any listeners experiencing similar issues: “If anyone is out there and struggling, it does get easier.”
If you or someone you know is suffering from alcohol addiction, you can confidentially call the national alcohol helpline Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 or visit the NHS website here for information about the programmes available to you.
