Charismatic leading man with The Script, Danny O’Donoghue, has opened up on one of the darkest periods of his life, on addiction and depression, after the death of his best friend and bandmate Mark Sheehan, after a short illness, in 2023.
Danny and Mark had been friends since they were 13, and Danny admits he found the loss of his old friend almost unbearable.
The frontman of the massively successful band chatted with Busted’s Matt Willis to discuss his battle with addiction, and how he made the life-changing decision to give up alcohol and drugs following a drink-fuelled few days in Ireland two-and-a-half years ago.
Speaking on the ‘On the Mend‘ podcast with the Busted bassist, turned presenter, Danny opened up on how a drink and drug-fuelled Christmas spent in Dublin was the wake-up call he needed to get his life back on track.
This discussion covers Danny’s career from the beginning of success with The Script and getting a record deal worth €15 million at the age of 16, to finally reaching number one in the charts.
He also shared the moment when he was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was 43 and how this completely changed his way of looking at his life through a lens of anxiety and fear.
Speaking candidly about his time in Dublin that year, and how he spent the whole time ‘f****d,’ Danny admitted, ‘So I went back to Ireland, and it was my first time home, being around Christmas in Dublin without Mark. And I was like, I’ve got to do this sober. I can’t face this anymore. I got to do this sober.’
‘So I jumped on a plane. And by the time I’d landed, I was p***ed. And I’d already speed dialed. You know what I mean? I was already like, let’s go, let’s sort it out.’
The singer spoke of how the plane touched down back in the UK after Christmas, and he felt horrendous and realised enough was enough.
‘I’m not doing me any favours. I’m not doing his memory any favours. You know, my family, my relationships with people were suffering over my selfishness.’
‘So I just absolutely cold-turkeyed on that day, and I gave up everything. Alcohol, weed, all that stuff, and just went boom, cold turkey, no more,’ and since then, Danny has had therapy, found faith and happiness in walking daily, attending church, and regular boxing sessions.
And he has never looked back. London is now home, the band is going out on tour this year, and Danny has been very happily married to Anais Naing since last year.
You can catch The Script supporting Luke Combs at Slane Castle in July and at the 3Arena in Dublin and the SSE Arena in Belfast in October and November this year.
