DAVE'S DIARY - 6 JUNE 2004 - JO DEE MESSINA
JO DEE MESSINA TALKS ABOUT REHAB
 |
Boston
born country star Jo Dee Messina has spoken frankly about her time
in a Utah Alcohol Rehab Centre. < Jo Dee Messina |
"I think
the reason I went public with being in rehab is 'cause it was the last
place I think a billion people would expect to see me, including myself,"
Messina said.
"There's a stigma that goes along with someone who either has a drug
problem or is addicted to pain killers or stuff like that. But the stigma
is just that: It's a stigma. It's not necessarily fact."
Messina says her manager, Stuart Dill, confronted her in Houston following
a rough performance after the 2004 Super Bowl.
She said she wasn't "stumbling drunk," but she acknowledges
that she doesn't recall much about the performance either.
"I forgot the words to Stand Beside Me. That's what I can
remember," Messina said.
After Dill's confrontation, Messina was on a plane to Utah the next day.
She entered a detox centre for a few days before checking into rehab.
"I thought detox was the wing of a hospital, but it was actually
on the psychiatric ward," she said. "You couldn't have anything
that could be used as a weapon. They take everything, cells phones, any
sharp objects and anything containing alcohol, whether it's perfume, face
lotion or nail polish."
Although Messina started singing in bars as a teenager, she says her family
didn't drink, and she didn't either.
She said she took her first drink at age 29 when someone offered her a
glass of wine after a show. Wine became a crutch and a sleep aid during
the next few years, which were tough times both professionally and personally.
HITS
AND BANKRUPTCY
 |
After
a quick start in 1996 with Top 10 hits Heads, Carolina, Tails,
California and You're Not in Kansas Anymore, her
singing career stalled, and she nearly filed for bankruptcy in 1997. She checked herself into a hospital in 1999 to recover from exhaustion. In 2003, Curb Records rejected an album she loved and released a greatest hits package instead. And finally, her engagement to long-time tour manager Don Muzquiz ended after much speculation. "You know sometimes two people together aren't the right match, that's all I can say," she said of her broken relationship. "I could sit here and tell you, 'We were so different.' But the truth of the matter is, we were so alike. I think that was our curse right there. We were so much alike, workaholics and just perfectionists." |
Her drinking progressed steadily as her life unravelled, though she says
she never hit the hard liquor.
"I didn't drink in the morning. I didn't do shots of whatever,"
Messina said. "At the end of a hard day, I'd have a glass of wine,
and that was my coping device. There were times when I was like, 'OK,
I'm not going to drink tonight.' Then, boom, I started moving on to 'OK,
I'll have a couple.' You know, then I'm going, 'Wow, can I even stop?"
Messina doesn't blame Muzquiz or Curb Records for her drinking problem.
Instead, she points to her workaholic tendencies.
She said rehab gave her the time to focus on herself and her issues, and
she was able to turn to songwriting again for the first time in a long
time.
WAY
BACK HOME
It was where she wrote a song about her experience called My Way Back
Home.
"It talks about, you know, I just kind of got lost in the commotion,
and I'm really just trying to find my way back home, which is back to
who I am and what's important to me and the real person that's inside
of me and not the person everyone thinks I should be."
Messina has also written a book, That's Right, I'm an Addict, and
she hopes to find a publisher who will release it.
During her outpatient stay, the usually-fit singer returned to her strict
diet and exercise regimen, using the steep mountain trails and lower oxygen
levels to pound her back into shape.
"It's going to be a good year,' Messina said as plans for a return
Australian tour gather steam.