In an all-new episode ofRed Table Talkthat will air on Wednesday at 12 p.m. EST on Facebook Watch, the Grammy Award winner, 52, chats with host Jada Pinkett Smith, 49, about his alcoholism and the effects that drinking previously had on him.
“[Because of] alcohol, I started losing bodily function,” Brown began in a PEOPLE first look at the segment. “My body started shutting down because I was drinking that much.”
“My body just was giving out on me,” the “Roni” hitmaker candidly revealed. “Even with alcohol, I got to the point where I needed it.”
For the star, drinking liquor practically became his crutch, “I wasn’t getting drunk anymore. I wasn’t getting a little tipsy anymore. I needed it to wake up. I needed it to stop the shakes, to function on a day-to-day basis. For me, it wasn’t recreational.”
That’s when Pinkett Smith chimed in, “It was a must.”
Brown has been off narcotics for 19 years and sober from alcohol for nearly one year, he revealed onRed Table Talk.
In addition to his own past struggles with substance abuse, Brown’s ex-wife, singerWhitney Houston, and their daughterBobbi Kristina Brownboth died of drug-related causes. Houston was 48 when she died on Feb. 11, 2012 at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel in California, just hours ahead of the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala she was expected to attend. Her daughter Bobbi Kristina was 22when she died on July 26, 2015, six months after being found unresponsive in her Georgia townhouse.
Brown is expected to address the deaths of his children onRed Table TalkWednesday.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
source: people.com
