September 16, 2002 14:15

BRETT ANDERSON - 'I WAS A CRACK ADDICT'

The star tells all about his debauched past...

SUEDE star BRETT ANDERSON has confessed to having been a "crack addict".

Speaking on the eve of release of the band's new album, 'A New Morning', due out on September 30, the singer said that although he has given up drugs now, he "got into crack" and was "a smack addict for ages".

He revealed he started on cocaine, but it wasn't enough. "Cocaine is child's play", he told The Observer. "After a while, it didn't give me enough of a buzz, so I got into crack. I was a crack addict for ages, I was a smack addict for ages. It's part of my past, really. I'm not far enough away to be talking about it. It's only recently I've been able to say the word 'crack'."

However, Anderson said he managed to pull through and is now clean.

He continued: "(Giving up) was kind of gradual... giving up drugs is a strange thing, because you can't just do it straight away. You stop for a bit then it bleeds into your life again. It takes great willpower to stop suddenly.

"I got sick of it really. I felt as though I'd outgrown it. It wasn't something I kept wanting to put myself through and I was turning into an absolute tit. Incapable of having a relationship, incapable of going out and behaving like a normal human being. Constantly paranoid."

Suede release their new single, 'Positivity' today (September 16).