Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens reveals shock drug overdose as he admits cocaine addiction
RIZZLE Kicks star Jordan Stephens reveals he once had a drug overdose as he opens up about his past cocaine addiction.
The Skip to the Good Bit singer, 32, said he became hooked on drugs as a” coping mechanism” during the height of his career.
Jordan joined Busted star Matt Willis on his podcast On The Mend, as he spoke about using cocaine to help ease social anxiety.
The pop star also revealed the time he had overdosed himself “every day for 18 months” while taking non prescribed doses of modafinil – which are taken to boost cognitive performance.
Matt asked him: “Okay, so you’re getting a psych exam for a TV show, and they were like, well, you need to look at this. Yeah. You know. And what was that like to hear?”
Jordan shared: “Well, they asked me. I guess they did like a full.
“They have to run like a full checkup. Yeah. And then in the checkup, they’re like, do you have any previous diagnoses? And I was like, oh, well, when I was 15 they said I had ADHD and they were like, oh, what have you done about that? And I was like, well, nothing.
“But I do self-medicate.And they were like.
“And they were like with what? And I was like, oh, this thing I bought off the internet. They were like, let’s take you to a psychiatrist, maybe.”
Matt quizzed the star and asked: “And what was that thing you were self-medicating with?”
Jordan explained: “Oh, it’s a thing called modafinil. It’s a funny story, which I do include in the book.
“Basically, I went to this guy and he sat me down and we spoke for a bit, and he was like, okay, I mean, you have ADHD, but what do you do about it?
“And I went, well, my mate, my hacker friend told me about these drugs called modafinil.
“And he went, oh, modafinil is actually a recognised ADHD drug, medication for it. And he went, how much do you take?
“And I went sometimes two pills a day, but like it varies. And he went, okay, how strong are the pills? And I went 200mg each. And I remember he just went quiet. And he was like 400mg a day? And I went sometimes.
“And he went, okay, we’re going to get you on this thing.
“And then he writes the prescription. And I remember so vividly he gave me the prescription and I looked at and it said 16mg, and I was like 16mg?
“And then I remember reading the pamphlet and it said like, here’s how you know you’ve had an overdose.”
Jordan was then stunned to realise that he had been experiencing side effects, common with an overdose.
He went on: “And it was like dry tongue, profuse sweating.
“And it was just like all the things that I thought meant the mode of modafinil was kicking in, was working.
“So by those metrics, I’d basically been overdosing on every day for like 18 month”
Jordan also spoke candidly about his drug addition and
He said: “My cocaine use became a problem when I started doing it at home.
“You know, initially it was a coping mechanism for dealing with how intense the places I was being asked to go to were.
“Again, as you would know it was surreal.”
He admitted he didn’t feel that pressure when he took drugs and he stopped “overthinking” different scenarios when in social situations.
“I used to have this compulsive thought when I would be out at an event where, because it was so quick from me and Harley playing at our mates, like, you know, prom or whatever,” he continued.
“Suddenly we’re like, you know, all over Radio One, and then we’re getting invited to events with people that I’d literally just watched on telly with, like my… you know what I mean?
“You’ve got like Jimmy Carr’s knocking about or like, I’ll be playing FIFA and then like, Daniel Sturridge is just like stood in the event looking at me going like, oh, I love your new song. What is happening?
So I’m just like, I can’t cope with it. And it was exciting.
“But I had this compulsive thought where if I said bye to someone… I’m just remembering this now… I would obsess over like whether or not I said bye in the right way to myself.
So it’d be like if I shook their hand, I’d be like, was I supposed to shake their hand? Or like give, you know, the kind of like, more like chill version of, cupping the hand and then a slap on the back or a hug, or if I said, why did I say, see you soon? And I would go go go go go go.”
Rizzle Kicks stars Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sule shot to fame in the late noughties after their debut album Stereo Typical.
But in 2015 the pop stars went their ways after they released their last song, a cover of Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.
Following this, both members pursued acting careers and solo music ventures.
Between 2011 and 2013, the band was a huge success with hits like Down With the Trumpets and Mama Do The Hump.
They had several chart-topping songs, including a collaboration with Olly Murs‘ Heart Skips a Beat, which reached number one.