'Burnt out' rapper Macklemore admits drug relapse

Macklemore says he started abusing drugs again when he found it difficult coping with the pressures of fame.

Rapper Macklemore has revealed he suffered a drug relapse last year when the pressures of fame became too much to handle.

The Thrift Shop hitmaker, real name Ben Haggerty, has a history of alcohol and drug abuse problems, which resulted in a stint in rehab in 2008, and although he managed to stay clean for years, he confesses he stopped attending therapy meetings and fell into the habit of using sleeping pills to help him relax in 2014.

He tells Complex.com, "I held it together for a while. But, eventually, I stopped going to my 12-step meetings. I was burnt out. I was super-stressed. We weren't sleeping - doing a show every day, zigzagging all over the country.

"In terms of the media, I was getting put into a box that I never saw myself. The pressure and the fame - everything," he said.

"All the cliches, man, like not being able to walk around, having no privacy, and from this TV appearance to this TV appearance, and the criticism, and the lack of connection, and the lack of meetings - all of that put into one pie was just... I just wanted to escape."

The 32-year-old "sobered a bit" when his fiancee, Tricia Davis, caught him hiding sleeping pills in his shoes, but he then began using marijuana and impulse shopping.

She says: "Everyone knew (he was struggling), but they didn't necessarily know (how bad it was)."

Macklemore's relapse started to affect his music and he stopped recording his sophomore album with longtime collaborator Ryan Lewis.

However, the rapper claims he got the wake-up call he needed when he learned Davis was expecting his first child.

"Since I heard that Tricia was pregnant, I was like, 'I need to grow up right now'."

The couple welcomed a baby girl in May.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are due to release their next album later this year.

- WENN