If you’re a long-time fan of rock, you might not be strange with Guns N’ Roses and Duff McKagan, the band’s bassist at all. Yet, do you know that the star has actually gone through a terrible phase in his life where he’s so addicted to alcohol and drugs and finally almost lost his life?
You’ve heard it right; there used to be a point that even Duff McKagan’s net worth of 8 figures almost couldn’t save his life. Luckily, the incident has woke him up and guided our star to a better life.
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Who Is Duff McKagan?
Duff McKagan is an American guitarist and author best known as the bassist for Guns N’ Roses.
He also temporarily handled the bass for Jane’s Addiction and has worked alongside 2 bands of Velvet Revolver and Loaded at particular phases. McKagan then reached his career peak as a bass guitarist of Guns N’ Roses throughout the 1985-1997 period.
After that, he took his time off and finally returned to the band in 2016. 4 years later, the Guns N’ Roses band was honored into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
To his credit, McKagan features in 5 Guns N’ Roses records, 3 Loaded albums, 2 Velvet Revolver soundtracks, and 3 solo albums.
He’s also a journalist, having written weekly articles for ESPN.com, SeattleWeekly.com, and Playboy.com. Duff’s first publication as an author, “It’s So Easy: And Other Lies,” was released in 2011, and he followed that up with “How to Be a Man: (and Other Illusions)” in 2015.
Duff McKagan’s Net Worth: It’s Unbelievable
Аѕ of Jan 2022, Duff МсКаgаn is believed to possess a shocking wealth of more than $80 mіllіоn. Compared to other Guns N’ Roses’ members’ assets, his total value is approximately double Izzy Stradlin’s net worth of $38 million and 3 times bigger than Steven Adler’s net worth of $15 million. It is also an impressive number compared to his colleagues at the Motley Crue.
Most of his earnings come from his attentive work as а bass player. Indeed, throughout his life, he has served as a crucial member in so many bаndѕ. As a member, when thеse rock bands launched аlbums and hits, hе rесеived his share of the sales and prizes.
Besides thаt, this talented star also performed as а ѕоlо аrtіѕt and released 3 personal albums – Believe In Me (in 1993), Beautiful Disease (in 1999), and the latest Tenderness (in 2019). Тhе ѕаlеѕ of his solo albums and books also help increase hіѕ total value.
Duff McKagan: A Terrifying Wake-up Moment From Alcohol And Drug Addiction
Legendary Guns N’ Roses bass player Duff McKagan required a “wake-up moment” from an incident of severe alcoholic pancreatitis to quit a life of excessive alcoholism and substance addiction.
Indeed, the star was only 30 when his pancreas grew to an enormous size and exploded, spewing digestive juices over his body and caused 3rd level burns.
“As my alcohol and substance addiction worsened, I saw myself moving nearer and nearer to madness. Instinctively, I felt something would have to snap,” he mentioned in the BBC’s Hardtalk show.
“Lucky for me, my pancreas broke, or else I would have died in puke.” Yet, the incident was still unforgettable to the star. He claimed he asked the physician to kill him because the agony was unbearable.
“I realized I was in great danger when they gave me morphine, but the ache did not disappear.” Then, they ran a whole-body examination and discovered that my pancreas was enormous. When the doctors informed me that they’d have to remove a portion of the pancreas, I screamed, “Just kill me.”
“It was a true wake-up experience. It was a prolonged addiction to drinking. As a result, I was hospitalized for several weeks, which offered me plenty of time to reflect about how I ended up in the hospital.”
Besides physicians warning that he’d end up dying if he didn’t give up alcohol, McKagan claims to get healthy for his mom was his motivation to quit alcohol and drugs ultimately. Many celebrities also struggle with substance abuse like Demi Lovato, even Keanu Reeves‘ childhood was ruined for having an addictive parent.
“I’m the youngest of 8 children, and my mom was hospitalized due to Parkinson’s disease. Yet, her smallest kid was in the ICU with wires coming in and out of him. I was dying, and I realized the world’s order was all messed up,” the star revealed.
“I decided that more than anything else, I must change things for the better for my mom. Thus, I would do my best to take up the challenge of being a decent child. That was the motivation for my entire getting-better journey.”
Why Did He Get In Heavy Drinking And Drug Abuse In The First Place?
Guns N’ Roses were staying in a one-room rental apartment in 1986, having little income – yet in under a year, their best-selling first record caught public attention, changing their lives forever.
McKagan stated that there was no “how-to clip or guidebook” to instruct him to cope with such an abrupt shift in lifestyle.
He turned to alcohol as the musician believed it would allow him to avoid panic breakdowns, which he had experienced and struggled with since he was a young teen.
In his worst period, he claims to have consumed “a gallon of alcohol per day,” followed by “ten bottles of wine per day as he was attempting to fight his mental issues.
He doesn’t at all condemn rock & roll for his addictions but alleges that the band’s tremendous fame left him with “little time to handle my mental problem, which was truly at the core of my alcohol addiction and drug abuse.”
How Is The Star Now After The Fearful Incident?
Surprisingly, he did not go to any rehabilitation site after his pancreas was back to regular size, and the doctors allowed him to leave the facility. Alternatively, he began mountain bicycling.
“During the following few weeks, I still experienced the addictive symptoms and didn’t know anyone clean. Therefore, I cycled my bicycle, and it was like self-punishing, hitting myself for disappointing my Mother and several of my buddies,” the star admitted.
“Yet somehow, it also began making me feel good since I was sipping water for the very first moment in a decade. I began consuming healthier foods and spending time reading.”
He also discovered several bank records from his Guns N’ Roses era inside his home, which he couldn’t understand and was too shy to ask anybody to elaborate to him. This event, however, served as the second watershed moment that put him on the journey to study finances.
“I was 30, drunk, and owned fortune – yet I had no idea what stocks or bonds were, and I didn’t particularly believe anyone in my music business, so I attended a local college course.”
He was then passionate about learning and accepted into Seattle University, which was a significant leap since he had never finished high school. He currently publishes a weekly piece for Playboy titled Duffonomics and runs his financial advisory firm to assist artists with their money.
Yet, McKagan also claims that Guns N’ Roses wouldn’t have produced the songs they performed without the crazy lifestyle. “We had to sacrifice and gamble a lot to make the things we did… Our first album was describing the life we used to live.”
Wrapping Up
Duff McKagan’s net worth is shocking, and he’s sure to enjoy his luxurious life. Yet, like many of us, the star had made terrible mistakes in his life; some are life-threatening ones. Luckily, his wake-up call in the hospital has awoken this talented musician and led him to a better life.
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