Andrew Lloyd Webber recently quit drinking after noticing the effects his substance abuse struggles had on his family.
“You think it’s a secret, but it’s not. Everybody knows. I started getting into a downhill spiral,” Lloyd Webber, 78, told The Times of London in a Saturday, April 19, profile. “About 18 months ago, the family were in a desperate state. My wife was feeling she couldn’t go on.”
Lloyd Webber, who has been married to Madeleine Gurdon since 1991, further called himself a “recovering alcoholic.”
“Sixteen months ago I decided that I needed help and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” he told the British newspaper, revealing he sought treatment at an in-patient facility and began attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. “What I love about it is, you go into a room and everybody’s equal. I’ve made friends that I wouldn’t have thought possible.”
Lloyd Webber now attends daily AA meetings, regardless of his travels.
“I did the meeting in New York on the day I was opening Cats: The Jellicle Ball last week, and nobody said a thing,” the famed composer said, revealing his favorite session took place in St. Louis, Missouri. “It was great fun. When you get a whole load of rednecks, it’s rather different to a meeting in Chelsea.”
Lloyd Webber previously quit drinking for 19 months in 2015 before he relapsed.
“I was doing what they call ‘white-knuckling,’ without any backup, and I started to worry that I wasn’t being creative,” he said, revealing that songs from the likes of Cats and Evita were initially crafted while drinking wine. “I thought, ‘I’ve said to everybody that I’m not drinking.’ So, I started to drink secretly.”
He added, “You don’t really think. It’s just, ‘How am I going to get through the day?’ I got that thing of seriously worrying that I wasn’t writing, and panicked. ‘Maybe I’ll have a drink. OK, I’ve written something.’ It does slightly liberate you — but then it’s more and more and more.”
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Nearly 10 years later, Lloyd Webber decided to get sober again.
“I’m lucky that nothing did go very wrong. I haven’t had some frightful accident,” he recalled of his substance abuse challenges. “I thought I was getting away with it. The thing is, I am deeply sorry and I can only apologize to people if I made a mess.”
Since he stopped drinking, Lloyd Webber has been even more creatively fulfilled with the productions of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Masquerade and two musicals more in development.
“I couldn’t have done that if I hadn’t been sober — I wouldn’t have been concentrating enough,” he quipped, referring to Masquerade’s immersive staging of Phantom of the Opera.
Lloyd Webber’s family also rallied around him amid his sobriety journey.
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“I went in [to my New York apartment a few months ago[ and there were all these balloons with ‘1’ on them,” he mused. “My youngest daughter had sent them to celebrate me being one year sober.”
The EGOT winner is a father of five. He shares Alastair, William and Isabella with Gurdon, as well as Imogen and Nicholas with ex-wife Sarah Hugill. Nicholas, who died in 2023 after battling gastric cancer, had also struggled with addiction before his death.
“He was [an] alcoholic,” Lloyd Webber added to The Times. “He was in a dreadful mess and came out of it, but I couldn’t help noticing how he’d changed. He got stomach cancer and one doesn’t know what caused it, but I can’t believe that all the medication he was on helped.”
Lloyd Webber now wears two leather bracelets, one engraved with Nicholas’ name and another with a silver link from his other children that helps “stop [him from] drinking.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
