Iain Lee Reflects on his ‘Obnoxious’ Behavior During Drug Addiction and Breakdown

Iain Lee has admitted that he was ‘incredibly obnoxious’ while in the throws of his drug addiction as he recalled his breakdown and ‘chaotic past’ in a candid new interview.

The broadcaster and stand-up comedian, 52, has always been open about his long-term battle with drug addition.

Iain was previously sober for 13 years until he relapsed in 2017 after appearing on I’m A Celebrity.. Get Me Out Of Here. He is now currently nearly five years sober.

He has also spoken openly about his battles with depression, revealing in May 2018 that he was sexually abused as a child.

Despite his TV success with The 11 O’Clock Show, in a new interview with The Guardian he told how he was ‘never proud’ of his work and ‘f***ed up his career’ due to his addiction.

He said: ‘I’m making peace with my past. I was never very proud of my TV career. I thought it was s**t.’ 

‘If anyone was f***ing up my career, it was me. I was taking loads and loads of drugs and becoming incredibly unreliable and obnoxious to work with… an a**hole.’ 

He added that he ‘didn’t know what he was doing’ for much of his TV career and ‘so I took cocaine and it gave me this false bravado. It looked like arrogance but it came from absolute terror.’

He added that he still finds it hard to take any kind of compliment about his career as it is ‘so ingrained that I’m not very good, that I’m a terrible human being’.

Back in 2020 Iain marked 30 days ‘clean’ after admitting to suffering a drugs relapse the month before following more than two years of sobriety.

The TV personality took to Twitter at the time to reveal he was back on the wagon after he revealed on his show, The Late Night Alternative, he had taken drugs recently. 

Discussing the experience, Iain told listeners it ‘wasn’t his drug of choice’, and made him feel a ‘little bit buzzy’, before giving him a headache and making him vomit.

He wrote on Twitter (now X): ’30 days clean and sober.’

Many of Iain’s followers were full of praise as they wished him well in the comments section, including one social media user who wrote: ‘Congratulations, man. Keep fighting the good fight.’

While another person said: ‘That’s brilliant Iain.’

Iain spoke about his long-term battle with drug addition during his call-in show the month before, after breaking his sobriety for the first time in two and a half years.

He told listeners: ‘So here’s the thing, I took drugs. After two and a half years clean, I took drugs. This is awful. It isn’t awful, but I feel awful.

‘Last weekend, not the weekend just gone, last weekend, I took some drugs. It wasn’t my drug of choice and it didn’t really do a lot, it gave me a terrible headache, it got me a little bit buzzy and it made me puke.’

Iain was previously sober for 13 years until he relapsed in 2017 after appearing on I’m A Celebrity.. Get Me Out Of Here. 

He explained that at the time he didn’t reach out to his sponsor for Narcotics Anonymous because he believed he had the situation under control.

Iain said: ‘After that it was like ‘I’m going to buy some cocaine. Part of me was like no, no no. ‘It wasn’t ok. It was horrendous… The first 30, 60 minutes were awesome, because cocaine did what cocaine is supposed to do.

‘It made me feel powerful, it made me feel very, very sexy, it made me feel strong and confident. But then, you know, 12, 13, 14 hours later when I was still sat at the computer looking at pornography and I was barely able to speak or move, that’s what cocaine does to me.’

He said: ‘I am ashamed but I need to turn that shame into humility. It was horrendous, and I’m really sorry.’  

‘A relapse doesn’t happen on the day, it happens three months, six months before, and I should have been more honest about how I was feeling.’ 

He has spoken openly about his battle with depression, revealing in May 2018 that he was sexually abused as a child, which he believed was a trigger.

He said the abuse caused him to consider suicide, after grappling with the ordeal since the age of eight. 

In November 2018 Iain revealed coming off anti-depressants had left him feeling suicidal in a heartbreaking tweet.

The presenter was inundated with support from followers after he admitted he was in a ‘f*****g dark’ place and pledged support to others going though the harrowing experience.

He wrote: ‘Coming off anti-depressants. Sweet lord. It’s hard. Harder than coming off a coke binge. Much harder. More emotional. Longer. Drawn out. So f*****g dark.   

‘Was in pieces last night. Suicidal. Luckily I have a good mate to talk me off the edge. But people need to know how tough these drugs are to come off. Torture. Absolute hell.

‘Please find the strength and focus to find the way out of your darkness. There is light. There really is.’  

He was praised a month later for keeping a suicidal man talking on the line for 30 minutes during a show while police and paramedics rushed to his aid. 

For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details. 

For confidential support for adults who suffered any type of abuse in childhood call NAPAC on 0808 801 0331, free from landlines and mobiles, or click here for details.