Mark Chesnutt announced last year that he quit drinking, after struggling with alcohol addiction for years. But now, the 62-year-old is opening up about his alcoholism, revealing that he likely wouldn’t be alive today if he didn’t quit.
“I quit drinking, and that was a big deal for me,” Chesnutt says on the Big D & Bubba show. “That was a huge thing for me. It just about killed me. It really did. There’s no other way to say it. It almost killed me. But thank God, I got over that.”
What Made Mark Chesnutt’s Drinking Spiral Out of Control
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Chesnutt recalls having back surgery in 2021, during the pandemic, which is when his drinking spiraled out of control.
“I went through a period that was really bad after my back surgery,” Chesnutt recalls. “I just sat around and drank all the time. That’s all I could do. I couldn’t eat. I was miserable all the time. I started out drinking beer. That was mostly what I drank. I drank beer and some whiskey every now and then, like everybody else. Then I got to drinking wine. I was drinking wine and not beer all the time. And then I graduated to the vodka, and started hitting the vodka really, really hard. Me and ole Tito’s were best friends for a long time.”
Chesnutt reveals that, by the end, he was drinking a handle of vodka a day.
“It got bad,” he admits. “And so, my friends now that drink, I don’t have a problem. I don’t have a problem with it right now … I can be sitting in a bar and everybody in there drinking but me, and it don’t bother me. I don’t crave it. I don’t need it. If somebody wants to drink, go for it.”
Looking back, Chesnutt acknowledges that he drank too much for most of his life, even if he wasn’t ready to admit it.
“I feel like I have more energy than I had when I was in my 30s,” Chesnutt says. “Because when I was in my 30s, I was drinking a lot. In my 40s, I was drinking a lot. 50s, I was drinking way too much. And so, that’s when I quit. I couldn’t get on stage and do what I did when I was drunk when I was younger. I wasn’t a functioning drunk anymore; I was just a drunk.”
Why Mark Chesnutt Quit Drinking
Even as he continued to drink, the singer knew his alcoholism had gotten out of control
“I knew I was dying,” he American Songwriter. A pivotal moment came when Chesnutt and his wife, Tracie, were in Knoxville. He asked her to call an ambulance. At the hospital, he found out that all of his organs, including his heart, were starting to shut down.
“I was bleeding out from my inside,” Chesnutt recalls. “They basically told me they were gonna get me over this, and I was going to be fine, and they could fix everything wrong with me. But if they discharged me and I went home and started drinking again, I’d be back in a matter of days, and I might not leave alive. I had to quit drinking or die.”
Chesnutt, fortunately, chose sobriety, and was given a new lease on life, one that he celebrates every day.
“I feel so good now,” Chesnutt says. “I wake up every day and thank the good Lord that I’m still kicking.”