The Script's Danny O'Donoghue Speaks About Decision To Get Sober

The Script's Danny O'Donoghue has spoken about the moment that he knew he wanted to get sober, after admitting that he was "drunk all the time" when he came home for Christmas last year.

Lead singer O'Donoghue admitted that he struggled with his sobriety last year, following the tragic death of friend and bandmate Mark Sheehan, saying that he could not stop himself from drinking.

O'Donoghue detailed the level that his alcohol consumption got to while speaking to the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast. 

"By the time I’d got off the plane, I was smashed. With every intention to get on that plane saying, I’m not going to drink at all and then while I was on it, whiskey please", O'Donoghue revealed. "Bang, and then I just hammered the whiskeys, got home and I pretty much spent Christmas just pi**ed". 

"I do one thing on Christmas Day, have been doing it for 14 years now, where I attend Temple Street children’s hospital from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon and spend time with the kids and nurses", he continued.  "It’s a beautiful, beautiful morning. I wasn’t drunk Christmas Eve. After the hospital I just went straight out to my sister’s, had dinner, straight on the Guinness again and I went like, the 25th, 26th, 27th drunk, the whole time". 

"The 27th"

Elsewhere, Danny O'Donoghue stated that he stopped drinking after December 27. 

"The 27th I said if I stay in Dublin much longer it will be so bad for me, so I cut it short and went home to the UK where I have my studio, and where my girlfriend lives".

"I said that’s it, that’s it, I’m finished. I’m finished drinking, I’m finished smoking, everything from December 27", he explained. "I gave up everything that day and I, for the first time, was able to legitimately say there’s another guy in here who’s f****** hijacking me". 

"Then, also on top of that, I bit the bullet and went back to church". 

The musician also added that he even struggled with substance abuse at school. 

"I was very experimental as a kid, as you would be as a musician", he explained. "I’d go sober for a few years and then have a few drinks, this, that and the other, so I was always dabbling, never to the extent where it’s gotten too out of hand where I’ve had to go anywhere". 

"I don’t have any different stories to anyone else growing up from my time in Dublin, and that’s the mad part". 

"let's go for a change"

Having started his career with Irish boyband Mytown with Sheehan, O'Donoghue set up The Script in 2008 alongside Glen Power and of course Sheehan.

He also revealed that he failed music at school, putting this down to a diagnosis of dyslexia, which he received in latter years.

"I failed music and it was shocking for me, because I went to the school for that," he said. "I’d prided myself on it. I was so nonchalant sitting in the back of the class like I can do whatever I want, and it was clear that I couldn’t". 

"I left in the fourth year because I wasn’t getting on well in the school and my mum just thought, let’s go for a change", he added.  "We went to another place where there were less rules, no uniforms, you could smoke, not in class but outside". 

"There were a lot less rules which I think suited me. I went there, and I spent a year there. It kind of just got a little worse for me".

"I was OK, I got pretty decent marks, but I just wasn’t interested in school and the music bug had caught me big time".

"The reason why I failed all of those things is because I’m dyslexic". 

The Script's new album 'Satellites' arrives on August 16, which includes their new single 'Both Ways'.