Stevie Nicks’ Only Regret: Eight Years of Tranquilizer Addiction
Stevie Nicks said the only regret she had in her career was an eight-year addiction to the tranquilizer Klonopin, which began in 1986.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the Fleetwood Mac singer reflected that it wasn't a particularly difficult period of her life, but the drug prevented her from being creative.
“It’s a very subtle drug - you just don’t feel it much, or so you think,” Nicks said. “On the bottle, it says, ‘Take as needed.’ That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. So you think: ‘Well, I need it every two hours.’ It’s addiction in a bottle.”
She noted that "it was a totally non-time. I just existed. It took away all my wonderful drama, my tempestuousness, my compassion, my empathy – all those things that drove me to my piano. I say to myself now: ‘How did you survive eight years without your wonderful drama?’”
Nicks added that she "always look back and think: What could I have done during that time? Made a Fleetwood Mac album or a solo record. I could have gotten married or had a baby or adopted one. Let me tell you, if anybody ever tries to put you on Klonopin, run screaming out of the room.”
In 2018, Nicks instigated the dismissal of Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac, which led to a legal battle that was later settled. She recently revealed that she had written to him after he suffered a heart attack last year. Asked if she might ever share a stage with him again, she replied: “Probably never.”
She added that people often ask the band members if they got along. “We’d go: ‘Not really.’ They’d say: ‘Are you friends?’ And we’d go: ‘Not really.’ ‘Do you see each other when you’re not on tour?’ ‘Er, no.’ It has been like that since 1976.”