Pete Doherty: “I was seen a wreck head!” The truth behind the headlines

Happy Place

Fearne Cotton

Society & Culture, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Relationships, Personal Journals

4.6 • 15.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Does anxiety or darkness drive you to create? Is creativity the ultimate catharsis? For musician Pete Doherty making art has, at times, been a matter of survival.

In this chat with Fearne, Pete explains why taking drugs was less about trying to escape, and more about what he was trying to find. Now he’s stopped taking drugs, how does he unlock and express his creativity differently? Pete also confirms that ‘addict’ is the right word to describe his behaviour, but that our attitude towards addiction needs to change.

Fearne and Pete catch up about the early days of The Libertines, and what Pete labels as ‘the chaos and risk of youth’. He describes how he was sold on the enticing mythologies of a rock n roll lifestyle, but is now much more comfortable living quietly in rural France with his family and dogs.

For contributions to #2 of Pete’s ‘On Strap’ fanzine please post to:

'ON STRAP’ FANZINE c/o The Heavy Horse

Hôtel le Rayon Vert

Rue Général Leclerc

76790 Etretat

Normandie

FRANCE

Pete’s fifth solo studio album, Felt Better Alive, is out May 16th.

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Transcript

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0:01.0	Hello and a massive welcome to Happy Place.
0:03.9	I'm Fern Cotton and this is the show that asks the big questions about what it is to be human.
0:09.7	Today I'm chatting to Pete Doherty.
0:12.3	There's kind of innocence and naivety to it, even with the drugs really, which I must have romanticised a lot to myself when I look back at it like that.
0:20.7	You get this cloak
0:21.4	of this force field where whatever it is you're thinking and concentrating on, you're supercharged.
0:26.9	But it wasn't the be all and end all, you know what I mean? I was quite cautious really,
0:30.6	even though like in those later days where I was seen as like this wreckhead, reckless.
0:35.1	It was never like that at first. You know. I was very wary and, you know,
0:38.3	it was like unfamiliar terrain and it was always done in like a sacred way.
0:42.7	How are you lovely people? I am, my energy is Lou. I am tired at the moment. Do you know what
0:48.6	it is? I'm waking up at like five every morning. I don't know, I don't know why. Am I meant to be happy about that?
0:57.3	Is it like one of those 5 a.m. Life hack things? I don't know. It's making me feel exhausted.
1:02.5	I don't know if it's because it's lighter earlier or option B. I'm turning into my dad. I am now officially Mick Cotton, who I mocked for years for getting up
1:14.4	early. I'd say like, oh my God, dad, have a lie in. What's wrong with you? I'm morphing into my dad.
1:19.2	I can't lie in. It's literally impossible and my kids are slightly lying in. They're at that age now.
1:25.3	And I'm up at five. What is wrong with me? Anyway,
1:28.4	I'm sure there'll be some of you nodding along vehemently saying me too. I've tried all
1:34.4	the sleep hacks before you start telling me to put lavender spray my pillow. I've tried it all.
1:39.9	It's not working. Anyway, we troop on. We have things to do. Mainly right now, talk about Pete. Pete came into the studio. Not on his own. Oh, no. He brought along his dog Gladys. Gladys. She, my, Gladys was a unit. Gladys was so glorious. He brought his dog Gladys in a few weeks ago. He's gearing up to release
2:03.4	his fifth solo studio album felt better alive in May, so not long now. And we were very lucky to
2:09.9	get some time with him because he lives in beautiful rural France now. And we chat about the good
	...

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