‘Family were in a desperate state’: Andrew Lloyd Webber reveals he is a recovering alcoholic

London: Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed he is a recovering alcoholic.

The composer says he has stopped drinking “completely” following a decision 16 months ago to get help for his addiction after going into “a downhill spiral”.

He described sobriety as the “best thing that ever happened to me”.

Lord Lloyd-Webber, 78, whose hit musicals include Phantom of the Opera and Cats, was introduced to Burgundy by his Aunt Vi, and started collecting wine from the age of 15.

He originally stopped drinking during 2015 and 2016, staying away from his favourite tipple for 18 months while producing School of Rock on Broadway. But it did not last.

“I was doing what they call ‘white-knuckling’, without any back-up, and I started to worry that I wasn’t being creative,” he said in an interview with The Sunday Times.

As his family, including Madeleine, his 63-year-old wife, became increasingly concerned about his drinking habits, Lord Lloyd-Webber finally decided to take quitting seriously.

“You think it’s secret [your drinking], but it’s not. Everybody knows,” he said. “I started getting into a downhill spiral and about 18 months ago the family were in a desperate state. My wife was feeling [like] she couldn’t go on.”

He checked himself into a clinic and now attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every day as he and his wife divide their time between homes in London, Hampshire and New York.

Lord Lloyd-Webber, who is selling the remainder of his once extensive wine collection via Christie’s, the auction house, is happy to describe himself as a “recovering alcoholic”.

“Sixteen months ago I decided that I needed help and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said.

The composer, who has won seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award and 14 Ivor Novellos, said he now “adores” attending AA meetings, even when he was with a “whole load of rednecks in St Louis”.

“It was great fun … it’s rather different to a meeting in Chelsea,” Lord Lloyd-Webber, who was knighted in 1992 before being elevated to the House of Lords in 1997, said.

“What I love about it is, you go into a room and everybody’s equal. I’ve made friends that I wouldn’t have thought possible.”

Lord Lloyd-Webber said the turning point for addressing his drinking problem was hearing someone else describe the “stupidity” of addiction. “It was about the ludicrous lengths you go to, the hiding and the pretending,” he said.

He explained he had turned to alcohol to help “liberate” himself when he had writer’s block.

“I got that thing of seriously worrying that I wasn’t writing, and panicked. ‘Maybe I’ll have a drink. OK, I’ve written something.’ Because it does slightly liberate you – but then it’s more and more and more,” he said.

Lord Lloyd-Webber admitted he had probably written some of his best-known songs while under the influence of drink, but he cannot remember which, apart from No Matter What, which was a big hit for Boyzone.

The peer’s wine cellar had achieved worldwide renown. At a 2011 Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong, a 12-bottle case of Château Pétrus 1982 fetched £48,000 ($90,000). The overall auction brought in £3.5 million. But after the final Christie’s auction between April 22 and May 6, there will be nothing left.

The composer says his newfound sobriety has not affected his productivity.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball, a tribute to the 1980s drag scene, opened to positive reviews on Broadway, while he is writing two new musicals, one based on the 2006 film The Illusionist and another about the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa.

The Telegraph, London