Bow Wow's Cough Syrup Addiction: "Worst Sh*t I Ever Went Through"
Bow Wow is getting vulnerable.
The 36-year-old—born Shad Moss—recently reflected on his past struggles over addiction to lean, which usually consists of soft drinks mixed with promethazine and codeine-based cough syrup.
While on tour in 2007, " I was co-headlining with Chris Brown and the opening night was in Cincinnati. And when I got off stage, I collapsed," Bow Wow shared during a recent appearance on The Art of Dialogue podcast, per People. "I went straight to Cincinnati University Hospital. My stomach was so f–ked up that I ended up going back home to Atlanta after the first show."
He continued, "I'm sitting in the hospital not knowing what the f–k going on, and when I get back home and the s–t gets worse. I'm throwing up, I'm shivering in the bed, I'm sweating, I'm going through it. I didn't know I was having withdrawals. That's how much lean I was consuming."
It was the wake-up call he needed.
"My stomach was so f–ked up. I never felt this type of pain ever in my life," he said, adding of his dependency, "My body needed it but my mind, I don't have an addictive personality. I was consuming a lot but I didn't know that my body needed it. That was the worst s–t I ever went through in my life. No joke."
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The Like Mike actor credited his late publicist Pattie Webster for helping him maintain his career while he got clean.
"I had to get right, man. God rest her soul, I had the best publicist ever," he said. "She put out a press release for dehydration. Wasn't no dehydration—I was f–ked up off leanคำพูดจาก สล็อตเว็บตรง. That's just good PR. We didn't want the world to know that 18, 19-year-old Bow was heavy on the drank."
Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for BET
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Bow Wow—who noted that these days, "I know my boundaries"—has been candid about his drug use over the years. Following Mac Miller's death in 2018 from an accidental drug overdose, Bow Wow shared an impassioned plea with his fans, speaking to his own addiction struggles.
"That s–t is not cool and i was doing it to be cool!," he tweeted in September of that year. "Kick that s–t! Be a good son or daughter. Be the best you. Ima start being more vocalคำพูดจาก สล็อตเว็บตรง. We gotta save the youth from going out early. Parents watch your kids. Explain to them. We want yall to live man. I almost died f–king with syrup."
For more celebrities who have spoken out about their struggles with addiction, keep reading.