Rock legend Alice Cooper reveals he's a devout Christian who prays, reads Bible daily
Rock legend Alice Cooper who has drawn inspiration from horror films and vaudeville to shock his millions of fans around the world, is really a devout Christian who reads the Bible and prays daily to stay sober.
Cooper, 73, revealed in an interview with Page Six that while some people who struggle with alcoholism stay sober with support from organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous, he beat his struggle with faith in God.
“I never went to AA,” he said. “Everyone said, ‘Oh you have such great willpower,’ I said, ‘No, God has great willpower. He took it from me.’ My dad was a pastor, my grandad was a pastor, Sheryl’s (his wife’s) dad was a pastor. I had such strong prayer for me. Even the doctor said, ‘This is an absolute miracle.’ I said, ‘Why?’ They said, ‘Well, you should be hiding bottles all over the house and you should be sneaking drugs.’ I said, ‘I have absolutely no desire for that at all.'”
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The rock legend who is known for hits like “Poison” and “Billion Dollar Babies” said he developed a struggle with alcohol and was at his worst in 1983 — prompting his wife, Sheryl Goddard, to file for divorce that year. Although they would reconcile a year later, Cooper remembers vividly when he decided he needed to do something about his alcoholism even though he was functional.
“Internally my pancreas and liver were being destroyed,” he told Page Six. “I woke up one morning and I threw up blood and that’s how I kind of knew it was over. My wife grabbed my ear and said, ‘Hey, the party’s over.'”
When he went to the hospital for help and was eventually released Cooper emerged a changed man thanks to his deep spiritual resolve.
Cooper and his wife, who have been married since 1976, went on to raise their three children and remain committed to each other today.
“My grandparents were married 76 years, my parents were married over 50 years, my wife’s parents were married over 50 years,” he told the publication. “To me when you got married, that was it. I always tell people don’t marry the person you love, marry the person you’re in love with, that means you would never do anything to hurt that person. I still whisk her off to a cheap motel every once in a while.”
He further explained that while his preacher father who was a fan of rock 'n' roll always understood he was acting when he performed, it took a while for others to see it that way.
“My dad knew my sense of humor, my dad was very cool,” Cooper said. “He loved rock and roll. He said, ‘I love the music, I can’t abide the lifestyle.’ He said, ‘I know the character you’re playing. He’s comical. He’s a villain but at the same time, he’ll slip on a banana peel.’ It took a while for people to understand that I was playing a character named Alice Cooper, I wasn’t Alice Cooper, I was playing that character. It was like a dark vaudeville.”
