An outlaw changing his ways.
It was no secret that Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and many other outlaw names knew how to party. But perhaps Waylon Jennings was one name from the outlaw movement that was most known for his hard living.
Drug and alcohol abuse seems to go hand in hand with the rockstar lifestyle, and for Jennings, he struggled with a cocaine addiction. At the peak of his addiction, he was spending $1,000 a day on drugs, as were friends like Johnny Cash.
After years of abuse, Waylon knew he needed to make a change. Waylon recalled during his 2001 CMT Inside Fame episode that he finally saw the light and realized how much he was hurting those around him, particularly the anguish that he was putting his wife, Jessi Colter. While Waylon knew that he needed to change then, he was not entirely convinced quitting altogether was for him… until he shared a tender moment with his son, Shooter.
“He came over and sat down and put his arm through my arm and colored for about an hour or something like that, maybe more. That was the first time he was able to do that because I was so scattered all the time. I thought, ‘Well, this is it.”
After that shared moment, he went to Jessi Colter and told her that he was done for good. He then gave the remainder of the drugs and handed them to Jessi to throw away.
“I heard her in the bathroom, pouring it down the commode hollering, ‘Hallelujah, praise the Lord. Hallelujah, praise the Lord.'”
Jessi Colter chimed in on the moment, noting that she was so glad that he and God had seen the light and that he was able to overcome his addiction.
Now, his detox story?
If you want to check out the full interview from the CMT Inside Fame episode, give it a listen while you’re here.
