Billie Joe Armstrong is coming clean after entering rehab in September 2012. In a his first post-treatment interview, the Green Day frontman opens up to Rolling Stone about his alcohol and prescription drug abuse and what caused him to finally decide to get help.
"I couldn't predict where I was going to end up at the end of the night," Armstrong, 41, tells the magazine. "I'd wake up in a strange house on a couch. I wouldn't remember how. It was a complete blackout."
But it was Armstrong's public meltdown while performing at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in September that forced him to address his problem.
When producers of the show turned on a "one minute" sign left for their show, Armstrong began shouting and smashing his guitar on stage. "I'm not f—ing Justin Bieber, you motherf—ers," he yelled. "Let me show you what one f—ing minute means."
Armstrong only remembers "tiny things" from the incident, but tells Rolling Stone, "The next morning, I woke up. I asked [my wife] Adrienne, 'How bad was it?' She said, 'It's bad.' I called my manager. He said, 'You're getting on a plane, going back to Oakland and going into rehab immediately.'"
Following the outburst, a rep for the band told Us that Armstrong was "seeking treatment for substance abuse." The punk-rock group also "regretfully" announced that they would be postponing tour dates.
Armstrong's full interview with Rolling Stone hits stands Friday, March 1.
