While Johnny Cash was breaking out as one of the best young country artists in the genre, he was also dealing with a lot of demons.
The Man in Black’s drug addiction and all the troubles and struggles that came along with it are very well documented. But it was interesting to hear his side of the story, from a first-hand perspective, in his last major television interview that Cash did with Larry King in 2002. He would pass away not even a year after.
Johnny Cash passed away at the age of 71 from complications with diabetes, though he faced a number of health issues like pneumonia in the 1990s. King even asked him in the interview if he thought all of the drugs that he did through the years were contributing to his ailing health.
Cash didn’t blame it on his addiction, and instead turned the question around to give a very heartfelt answer about how, in his mind, he made a lot of sacrifices for his music and his fans:
“I won’t blame this on drug addiction at all. I have people say, ‘Well he wore that body out.’ Well maybe I did, but it was to a good purpose. They should be thankful I wore it out for the purpose I wore it out.
That was writing, recording, touring and doing concerts everywhere that I could possibly do them.”
When Cash put it like that, and delivers those words in a genuine and prideful-yet-regretful way, it really makes you appreciate all that he did for the genre of country music.
The late great Larry King, being the phenomenal interviewer he was, didn’t let that thoughtful answer from Cash distract him. King guided the conversation into the nitty-gritty and very straightforwardly asked Johnny what drugs he was dependent on when he first became addicted.
Cash answered by saying:
“In the 1960s, it was amphetamines (to stay up) and barbiturates (to wind down)… for a while it was okay. At first I said ‘This is what God meant for me to have in this world. This was invented for me.’ I honestly thought it was a blessing, a gift from God… these pills.
But then I finally found out I was deceiving myself. This is one of those things that was a false faith. It’s the devil disguise that had come to me. The first time I broke the addiction, it took 32 days.”
As you probably know, Cash went on to get clean and relapse multiple times throughout his career… much to the dismay of his wife June Carter. But it’s interesting, and ironically sobering, to hear Johnny speak about his struggles so openly so close to his eventual passing.
You can hear more from the interview, which was rebroadcasted after Cash passed away, below: