Dougie Poynter has revealed he took lethal doses of Valium following the band’s decision to go on indefinite hiatus in 2016.
Discussing his addiction in new ITV show McFly: All About Us, the bass guitarist, 32, claimed he would take the drugs because he felt the split was ‘all [his] fault’.
Speaking candidly about the issue, he said of that time: ‘On the one hand I felt inspired because friends in LA would take me to see other bands and stuff.
Candid: McFly’s Dougie Poynter (pictured in 2019) revealed on Wednesday he took lethal doses of Valium after the band’s indefinite hiatus in 2016 as he thought it was ‘his fault’
‘On the other hand, I was like, “But my band’s broken and it’s all my fault”. Valium was a way of just making all that disappear.’
Talking alongside him about the issue, bandmate Danny Jones went on: ‘He went from being quite sketchy to being super chill, like almost dribbling and I was like, “There’s something wrong man”.’
Harry Judd said he went to confront Dougie about the issue, asking if he’d been ‘taking something’ as he could tell something wasn’t right.
‘He sort of told me what he’d been taking. He was like, at that lethal dosage,’ Harry said of their talk.
Struggle: Speaking about the issue, he said while he saw the time as an opportunity, he was also plagued with guilt and felt ‘Valium was a way of just making all that disappear’
As a result Dougie checked into rehabilitation, and he later asked Tom Fletcher to come to counselling with him – with Harry and Dan joining shortly after.
Referring to Dougie’s parents’ split at the age of 15 which saw him move in with the band, Tom added: ‘We’re all he had to cling on to when there were tough things going on in his life.’
Discussing their breakthroughs in the counselling sessions, he said: ‘We realised Dougie did nothing wrong. And that’s the biggest lesson from all this.’
Since the band have got back together, Dougie claimed he is feeling much more fulfilled as he said: ‘it’s all I really know and all I really want to know.’
intervention Harry Judd said he went to confront Dougie about the issue, asking if he’d been ‘taking something’ as he could tell things weren’t right and learned he was on a ‘lethal dosage’
In July, the musicians, whose two-year stint in the supergroup McBusted with fellow band Busted came to an end in 2016, admitted to The Sun they were ‘broken’ during their time apart from one another.
Harry said: ‘We have all been through a lot individually in the past four years. It got to a point where once all the talking was done, we had one therapy session and things were said.
‘We’d seen each other broken, desperate and sorry enough to each other to be like, “Right, OK, we can move on now.” It’s not just like a married couple. There’s four of us, so there’s a relationship between each and every single person. It’s a complicated thing.’
Help: Dougie checked into rehabilitation, and he asked Tom Fletcher to come to counselling with him, with Harry and Dan joining shortly after, which helped him realise he wasn’t to blame
During their time apart, each member pursued other projects, which included Harry’s Strictly Come Dancing win, Danny becoming a coach on The Voice Kids, Dougie launching an acting career, and Tom becoming a bestselling author.
However, Harry admitted that it was still a struggle to adjust to life without McFly, after the ‘amazing experience’ of being in the band.
He told the publication: ‘I was turning 30 and the band was taken away from me. You suddenly don’t know what to do and have this identity crisis.’
Earlier this month, the members of McFly thrilled fans when they confirmed they will be releasing new music for the first time in a decade.
McFly: All About Us airs on Saturday at 6.40pm.
Tough: In July, the musicians admitted they were ‘broken’ during their time apart from one another (pictured in 2004)