Sophia Michaels
Steven Tyler’s road to sobriety was not an easy one. In 2006, Tyler revealed he had been diagnosed with hepatitis C three years prior. “I’ve been pretty quiet about this. The band took a break about three years ago and I’ve had hepatitis C for a long time, asymptomatic,” he shared with Access. He followed his doctor’s advice and underwent 11 months of chemotherapy. “So I went on that and it about killed me,” Tyler added. At the time, he was married to Teresa Barrick, and the stress of dealing with his disease caused a strain between the two. They ended up divorcing after 17 years together. The light at the end of the tunnel was that the treatment worked, and Tyler is now free of the disease. “It is non-existent in my bloodstream as we speak so it’s one of those few miracles that in doctoring where it’s like a complete cure. It’s gone,” he marveled.
Unfortunately, Tyler became addicted to pain medication while being treated for hepatitis C, which led him down a road of cocaine and pills again. He checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic and was sober for three years until a relapse in 2009, which caused a major catastrophe onstage.
