Bow Wow on His Cough Syrup Addiction_ Worst Sht I Ever Went Through in My Life _
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00:00 That shit was the worst shit I ever went through in my life.
00:02 Bow Wow is revealing more about his past addiction
00:05 to lean in an appearance on the Art of Dialogue podcast.
00:09 The 36-year-old reveals just how bad his struggle
00:12 got with the substance, which usually consists
00:14 of soft drinks mixed with promethazine
00:17 and codeine-based cough syrup.
00:19 I was on lean, and I was sipping so much syrup,
00:22 and I was drinking that shit like crazy.
00:26 Like, if you go back and watch, it's
00:27 called the "Road to Platinum" documentary series on BET.
00:30 If you watch that, you'll notice you'll
00:32 see so many white Styrofoam cups,
00:34 and you'll see so many Hawaiian punch bottles in the studio.
00:37 I was losing my [BLEEP] mind.
00:39 Like, that lean shit got me [BLEEP] up.
00:42 Then he hit a rock bottom he wasn't expecting.
00:45 I don't have an addictive personality.
00:48 So I'll never forget me and Chris, we were on our tour.
00:53 I was co-headlining with Brown.
00:56 The opening night was in Cincinnati.
00:58 When I got off the stage, I collapsed.
01:01 And I went straight to Cincinnati University Hospital.
01:05 I'm sorry, but my stomach was so [BLEEP] up, so [BLEEP] up,
01:08 that I ended up going back home to Atlanta after the first show.
01:12 So mind you, I miss Baltimore.
01:14 I miss Chicago, and I miss Detroit.
01:17 Like, these is big Bow Wow markets, like huge markets.
01:21 And I'm sitting in the hospital not knowing
01:24 what the [BLEEP] going on.
01:25 And when I get back home, the [BLEEP] gets worse.
01:28 Like, I'm throwing up.
01:30 I'm having-- I'm [BLEEP] shivering in the bed.
01:32 I'm sweating.
01:34 I'm going through it.
01:35 I go to the hospital again, bro.
01:36 This is summertime.
01:38 I pull up to the Gwinnett Hospital
01:40 here in Atlanta with, like, two hoodies on and sweats.
01:44 You know how hot it get in Atlanta?
01:46 I'm [BLEEP] freezing, bro.
01:48 Like, I'm-- I didn't know that I was having withdrawals.
01:53 That's how much lean we was consuming.
01:56 It just felt like somebody had a knife, bro.
01:58 And I never felt this type of pain ever in my life.
02:00 But I didn't know that I was having withdrawals from this
02:04 [BLEEP] and my body needed it.
02:05 But like I said, my mind--
02:06 I don't have an addictive personality.
02:08 I was consuming a lot, but I didn't
02:09 know that my body needed it.
02:11 That [BLEEP] was the worst [BLEEP]
02:12 I ever went through in my life.
02:13 In the interview, the celeb credits his late publicist
02:16 Patti Webster for helping him maintain his career
02:19 while he got clean.
02:21 You know, she ended up putting out a press release.
02:22 And you know, I was home in Atlanta.
02:24 I saw the news.
02:24 And they were like, Robert Bow Wow was hospitalized.
02:27 Meanwhile, I'm at home recovering.
02:29 And you know, for dehydration--
02:32 well, not dehydration.
02:33 I was-- I was [BLEEP] up off lean early.
02:36 Like, [BLEEP] up.
02:38 So if you look at that-- that article up,
02:41 it said dehydration.
02:42 I was capped.
02:43 You know, that's just good PR.
02:44 We didn't want to let the world know that 18, 19-year-old Bow
02:47 was, you know, heavy on the-- on the drink.
02:50 But we was.
02:51 We-- we-- we was.
02:52 And this isn't the only time he's
02:54 opened up about his struggles with substance abuse.
02:56 Following Mac Miller's death in 2018
02:59 from an accidental drug overdose,
03:01 Bow Wow shared an impassioned plea with his fans.
03:04 He tweeted in September of that year, "Kick that [BLEEP]
03:07 be a good son or daughter.
03:08 Be the best you.
03:09 I'm going to start being more vocal.
03:11 We got to save the youth from going out early.
03:13 Parents, watch your kids.
03:15 Explain to them.
03:16 We want y'all to live, man.
03:18 I almost died [BLEEP] with syrup."
03:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:27 (upbeat music)
03:30 (upbeat music)