Matt Willis came out about his addiction difficulties in a BBC programme, and he is now reducing his social media usage as a result.
Matt, 40, worked on the documentary for six months, looking at the science underlying addiction as well as the impact it had on his family, notably his wife Emma Willis and their daughters Isabelle, 13, Trixie, 7, and Ace, 11.
While the artist has been clean for five years, he admitted that during his most recent relapse, which occurred during a Busted tour, he would take 6 grammes of coke alone every day.
He has now resorted to social media to thank everyone for their support and to notify them that he is taking a vacation.
‘I am having some downtime and not on social that much right now.
‘Thanks for all your incredible messages about the documentary. Sorry I cannot answer all of them,’ he wrote.
Matt also encouraged his followers to get treatment if they were experiencing difficulties.
‘I am not a trained therapist or counsellor – I am just a drug addict trying to stay clean.
‘If you need help now, there are links at the bottom of the iPlayer videos.
‘Talking about these things is a big step in the right direction, talk to someone, if they can’t help you, talk to someone else.’
He has subsequently published an Instagram story advertising the new Busted tune MMMBop 2.0, but he appears to be limiting his use to solely posting about the documentary or music.
Emma, 47, stayed constant in her love and care during the worst days of his addiction, and she published an Instagram image with a lengthy statement expressing how much she has his back.
She initially explained why she was ‘nervous’ for the world to see the film: ‘Matt and I have always tried to keep ourselves as private as we can whilst working in a very public industry. So, as you can probably imagine, we’re incredibly nervous about this film going out into the world.’
‘As humans, we’re all imperfect, and we shouldn’t feel like we have to hide certain parts of ourselves to be loved. Ultimately it was our love and hard graft that have got us to where we are now.’
View this post on Instagram
Emma is proud of what he created, and who he is: ‘Matt amazes me every day with his resilience, strength, and determination. He is everything to everyone around him and it astounds me that he cannot see what we all see in him.
‘In the doc he shares a piece from his gratitude journal and reads three sentences he always includes: I am not my thoughts. I am worthy of love. I am enough. Matt, you’re more than enough and we love you.’
Emma’s support of Matt came after the programme received some criticism.
Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction is available to watch on iPlayer.
Worried about drugs?
Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.
Adfam has local groups for families affected by drugs and alcohol and DrugFam offers phone and email support to people affected by other people’s drug or alcohol misuse.