Tim McGraw first started playing club shows at age 19, he’d always have a few drinks to calm his nerves before going onstage. His mother, Betty, warned him it would become a problem if he didn’t learn how to perform sober. Even though he went on to country superstardom, Tim admits he rarely hit the stage without something in his system until about seven years ago.
He tells Men’s Health, “I drank too much. I partied too much. And did other things too much. Chemically. No needles or that kind of stuff, but…use your imagination.”
Tim’s drug and alcohol use was fueled by the isolation of being on the road away from his family. It got to the point, his wife, Faith Hill, had to step in.
“When your wife tells you it’s gone too far, that’s a big wake-up call,” Tim says. “It got to the point where my kids were getting older, and it was way past the point that they noticed it. And I noticed that they noticed. That’s enough to straighten you out.”
Now, Tim is the picture of fitness on the cover of the July/August issue of Men’s Health, on stands next week.
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