Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix Reveals Sobriety Slip During Pandemic

Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix has spoken openly about his battle with sobriety over the years and during a recent appearance on the Hardcore Humanism podcast, the singer revealed that he had fallen off the wagon during the pandemic.

In February of last year, the vocalist celebrated the eight-year anniversary of his sobriety, heading out on the town with friends and enjoying a “mocktail,” but as he revealed to host Dr. Mike he reverted to smoking pot over the past year.

“Just to be straight with you, I, during the pandemic, I fell off the wagon and I was smoking pot,” said Shaddix. “I just got caught up and depressed, you know, depressed and just stuck in this space. And I wasn’t working an active program of recovery. And I found myself with a joint in my mouth, you know? And yeah, it’s legal in California. And yes, it is medicine to some people, but it’s not to me. Anytime, I put any kind of mind altering substance in my body, there’s like this veil that gets dropped on me and just kind of like isolates me from the world.”

He added that he did eventually return to a recovery program. “When I was with my brothers in recovery, I was like, ‘Hey, man, this what I’ve been up to, I need help, dude, I need it. I need help getting myself back out of this. Because …. I knew I was getting closer,” says the singer. “You know, I told my guys, you know, ‘Well, at least I didn’t drink,’ you know, and they’re like, ‘Well, yeah, that’s good. That is good, Cobe. But you were heading straight towards it, homey. Like, that’s where you are going.’ And that was a really hard realization, but a good realization for me to have – is to really understand like, I was feeding the bad wolf.”

In 2019, Shaddix shared a bit of his history with sobriety. He explained, “I had a mean struggle with it, man. I tried to get sober for the first time when I was 27 and struggled with it for years and fell off and got back on, and fell off and got back on. Then I finally found a support group of other musicians that were traveling the road and living the life that I was living, ’cause it’s quite unique, in a sense. And I found a way to do it and a way to find some peace.”

“My behaviors and my actions and the ways that I was treating myself and my loved ones, it was just not acceptable. I was just drinking to numb my feelings and try to escape it, but the problem was always there,” he added. “I was like, ‘Alright, it’s time to face it.’ I don’t wanna repeat this cycle of broken family and broken children.'”

Check out more of Jacoby Shaddix’s chat with the Hardcore Humanism podcast below.

Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix Speaks With the Hardcore Humanism Podcast

If you or someone you know if struggling with drug and/or alcohol dependence, help is available through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website. To speak to someone on the phone, dial 1-800-622-HELP (1-800-622-4357) or send a text message to 1-800-487-4889.