French Montana’s week-long stay in the ICU last year was seemingly not just an effect of his exhaustion, as the rapper is now opening up about how he was also being treated for a serious pill addiction at the exact same time.

In a new chat with XXL, the New York native opened up about how struggling with addiction for so long finally led to his hospital stay, and how he has made the conscious choice to stay clean after that, now one year free of substance abuse.

Following a harrowing stint with addiction, the rapper is ready to be candid about his struggles, explaining to the publication that he feels as though everyone can see the progress he has made over the last year.

“I feel like for my fans and ‘XXL’ fans, it kinda like, people see me growing and it’s a beautiful thing,” Montana said. 

“I feel like the growth, and people just seeing my elevation, the ups, the downs and seeing that we’re still here doing it and looking better than yesterday.”
 

It wasn’t always looking up for Montana however, as just last year he was in the grips of a serious battle with addiction, saying that his famed hospitalization was due to “a combination of a lot of things: being fatigued, dehydrated, you know, losing myself chasing money, chasing the wrong things.”

“Too much drinking, too many pills, you know, boom,” he added, detailing the factors that led to his ICU stint and the reasoning behind subsequent life changes that time would bring about in him.

On the industry at large, the rapper says he feels the problem is prevalent amongst many of his peers, “I feel like 90 percent of musicians on that, it was just overdoing something for too long, and, to the point where, now sober is becoming my new high. People seen I was out of control, not me, you know what I’m saying? ‘Cause, you know, it’s almost like, you know, working out. You don’t see you getting big ’cause you see yourself every day, it’s the same thing with you being out of control.”

After a serious scare like that, Montana says his focus is now on being “rich in health, rich in spirit and rich with money.”

“This is how I changed it,” he said of his conscious efforts to focus on his mental and physical health, “Stepped back, took two steps back, didn’t drop no music, detox from social media…everybody is drugged up…Everything got control of my life but me, you know what I’m saying?”

It seems as though no more addiction scares are on the horizon for the rapper, who proudly proclaimed that “since that day, I never had a drink. I just made a year.”