Billy Idol states that the closest he came to death was during a night of heavy drug use in the early ‘80s.

During a recent appearance on comedian Bill Maher’s podcast, Club Random, Idol recounted the frightening incident.

“I returned to England in triumph with the album Rebel Yell,” he recalled, reflecting on the success of his 1983 LP. “I was going to perform on Top of the Pops in England. You know, kind of returning to England. I’ve had this big record in America.”

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“So a bunch of friends met us at the airport, and they had a lot of heroin with them,” the singer continued, indicating that the group quickly found a hotel room to partake in the illegal substances. “So, of course, somehow everyone else in the room passed out, except for me and the other guy, you know, who was chopping the lines out.”

As Idol explained, he preferred to snort heroin rather than inject it with a needle — a preference he attributed to his mother having been a nurse.

Eventually, Idol was the last member of his group to pass out from heroin use. “When other people in the room came to, I was turning blue.”

The rocker was unconscious and, in hindsight, likely close to death. “If you’re dying, you’re going to start turning blue,” he explained to Maher. Thankfully, Idol’s friends managed to revive him by running water on him in a bath. “I survived,” he stated plainly.

‘I Started Smoking Crack to Get Off Heroin’

Idol, who said he is “California sober” these days, eventually quit heroin, but it wasn’t an easy process. He described it as feeling “like a skeleton is trying to get out of your body” when withdrawing from the drug.

“[Heroin] is really great. It’s just the worst thing is getting off it,” the singer remarked. “It’s just getting off it. It’s terrible. And that’s what stops me from going back to doing it; it’s the thought of getting off. It’s so terrible.”

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Heroin wasn’t the only drug Idol used. In fact, the rocker credited another narcotic with helping him overcome his heroin addiction.

“Once you’re trying to get off heroin, what do you go to? You go to something else,” he explained. “I started smoking crack to get off heroin… It worked.”

“It was a lot of fun,” Idol admitted, reflecting on his partying days. “I liked taking drugs back then; I really enjoyed it. It took me a long time to put them in my past, but at some point I realized you had to do that.”

Idol is a nominee for the 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class. He also has a new documentary film, aptly titled Billy Idol Should Be Dead.