The Libertines’ Pete Doherty says he was “healthier when he was on heroin”

24 February, 2024

Pete Doherty and Carl Barât performing on stage together with The Libertines

Pete Doherty has said he was “healthier” when he was taking heroin while opening up about his health.

During a new interview with The Guardian, Doherty spoke about how his life had changed since kicking the drug in 2019. “I gave up the main poisons and my health improved,” he explained.

READ MORE: The Libertines talk being clean and connected: “We just want to write beautiful songs in the moment”

“Then you get told alcohol and cheese and sugar are just as bad and you were healthier when you were on heroin.”

The musician’s Libertines bandmate Carl Barât added: “Gluttony”. Doherty agreed: “Yeah, I am a bit of a glutton. It’s not a joke. I’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. And at the moment I’m lacking the discipline to tackle cholesterol.”

Barât was then asked if he was surprised that Doherty was still here following his years of drug and alcohol abuse. “Am I surprised Peter’s still alive?” he responded. “No, he’s too smart to die. He never intended to die.”

Doherty said: “I always wanted to see the result of things. I don’t switch the telly off halfway through election night. I want to see what happens.”

When asked whether Doherty was surprised that Barât was still here, the singer-songwriter replied: “Yes. There were times I worried about him so much, particularly in the early days … He wasn’t very stable.”

Barât added: “Hang on, I had to pull myself up from the wreckage, mate. That takes some strength.”

Doherty currently lives in northern France with his wife, Katia deVidas, and their baby daughter Billie-May. deVidas directed the 2023 documentary Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin, which lays bare the musician’s struggles with addiction.

Speaking to NME around the film’s release, Doherty said he was “cleaner” and “sober-er”. He explained: “I’m off crack and heroin and on the path.” When asked if he had escaped that part of his life, he responded: “Yeah, luckily. It just wasn’t sustainable.”

Doherty continued: “There comes a point when the body just can’t keep up with that level of abuse. There’s lots of debate about the other effects of the drug but the physical effects alone are just not sustainable really. It becomes a Russian roulette.”

The frontman also opened up about his health in an episode of Louis Theroux Interviews late last year, telling Theroux that he was “a very sick man”.

“I’ve battered it, haven’t I? I’ve fucking caned it,” he added.

“[The] heroin and the crack… I surrendered to that. Then it was cocaine and the smoking and the alcohol, and now it’s cheese and the saucisson, and the sugar in the tea… it’s all gotta go.”

He went on to say that he’d been advised by his doctors to implement changes to his lifestyle: “They told me a little while ago if you don’t change your diet then you’re gonna have diabetes and cholesterol problems… Death’s lurking, you know what I mean?”

The Libertines recently announced a 2024 UK and Ireland headline tour in support of their upcoming fourth album, ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’. See the full schedule below, and find any remaining tickets here.

The Libertines’ 2024 UK and Ireland tour dates are:

SEPTEMBER
23 – 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin
24 – The Telegraph Building, Belfast

OCTOBER
03 – O2 Academy, Birmingham
04 – UEA, Norwich
05 – The Corn Exchange, Cambridge
07 – Great Hall, Cardiff
08 – O2 Academy, Bristol
17 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
18 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
19 – Mountford Hall, Liverpool
21 – Rock City, Nottingham
22 – O2 Academy, Leeds
30 – Roundhouse, London
31 – Roundhouse, London