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Home · Celebrity

Timbaland Reveals Opioid Addiction Affected His Career: 'I Was Abusing My Gift'

“I felt like I was abusing my gift that God gave me and when I was on the drugs, he took that gift away,” he said.
Timbaland Reveals Opioid Addiction
By Keyaira Boone · Updated December 6, 2020

Timbaland recently revealed that he became addicted to opioids after being prescribed the pills to cope with the pain of a dental procedure. 

Mosley detailed on Wednesday’s episode of Tamron Hall that he eventually relied on opioids to complete day to day tasks, but they had drastic affects on his alertness.

“The pills make you function, but sometimes you would nod off while people were talking to you because it would make you fall asleep, but it would make you function because everything feels great,” he explained. “I don’t want to glorify it, but it feels amazing. It makes you feel like a superhero. It gave me confidence.”

Article continues after video.

The 47-year-old Grammy award-winning super producer and rapper, born Timothy Mosley, added, “It takes over you. It’s something that takes over your body.”

Timbaland admitted that his addiction negatively impacted his music career. “I thought some of the pills were making me create, but as I went back to listen to some of my music I was like, ‘Oh this is not a creation, this is a hot mess,’” he admitted.

“I felt like I was abusing my gift that God gave me and when I was on the drugs, he took that gift away,” Tim said. 

The super producer’s personal life suffered as well. As he fell further into his habit, his relationships with his ex-wife, Monique Mosley, and children, were affected. But it was the relationships with his kids that helped him break his addiction.

Timbaland Reveals Opioid Addiction

“My marriage was new and I was scared of it. I think the pills helped me deal with the marriage at the time,” he said. “But when I had my daughter and my son, I kept looking like, ‘I want to be here for my kids’ and it just hit me one day. I didn’t go to rehab; I cut cold turkey. My kids were my backbone to living.”

Since he has gotten clean he has begun working with a trainer and lost a significant amount of weight. But despite the improvements in his mental and physical health, he still considers himself to still be a work in progress.

“I don’t want to ever feel like I’m complete, ’cause my mind would probably get idle,” he said. “God needed me to be clear so I could see what is needed, not what I want.”

TOPICS:  ef2019 essencefestival2019 timbaland
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