Ronnie Wood Says Keith Richards Gave Him A Hard Time For Trying Rehab

Ronnie Wood's first attempt at getting sober wasn't the easiest.

During his new interview with Mojo Magazine, the guitarist, 72, said that his Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards was not supportive when he tried to quit alcohol and drugs in 2005. “I do remember going on stage clean for the first time,” he told the outlet. "[I]t was at this club in Canada for the start of a tour. I was like this [terrified] and Mick Jagger whispered, ‘It’s alright, you can do it, don’t worry.' And Keith’s going, ‘Rehab’s for quitters!’ Trying to make out I was the weakling."

Still, Woods' disregarded the negativity and instead focused on the reality of his battle, saying, "But it takes a lot of strength to do this if indeed I’m gonna be able to do it at all because there’s no guarantees."

After a few more years (and an intervention in 2009), Woods decided to take the big leap, but he did it on his own terms. “You sometimes wonder if they want you to go out and drink again… it’s big money for them,” he explained. “Do they want you to fall off the wagon and come back and pay them another huge amount of money? So I left rehab and did it for myself. I felt I knew what to do – Fellowship. I did 90 meetings in 90 days and I did the same again. Didn’t need the rehab place – I did it through the meetings."

As of February 2019, Richards had told The Independent that he had significantly cleaned up his alcohol consumption, only having "a little wine with meals, and a Guinness or a beer or two."

Photo: Getty Images


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