Justin Moore Gets Candid About Sobriety, 30-Day Rehab and Recent Health Scare

In June, Justin Moore revealed he would be stepping away from touring temporarily to focus on his health. He returned to the road one month later and is now opening up about his decision to enter a 30-day rehabilitation program, providing an update on his sobriety and revealing details about a recent health scare.

Justin Moore Opens Up About His Sobriety Journey

Moore recently sat down with his friend and fellow country star Tracy Lawrence on TL’s Road House podcast and reflected on his journey to sobriety. The singer explained that his relationship with alcohol changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. What initially started as an occasional drink eventually became an everyday habit, which he admits then began taking a toll on his career, family life and overall well-being.

‘A Drink at Five Turned Into Three at Noon’

“I didn’t drink until I was 21. Don’t ask me how or why. And then almost 20 years, I never had any issue whatsoever. And then COVID hit and we were doing our podcast at the time and literally nothing else. And man, idle hands are the devil’s workshop is a real thing. And a drink at five turned into three at noon. And then before you know it, it’s all day, every day. And not even really getting smashed or just constantly having a cocktail. And it started affecting my life,” he revealed.

Moore Realized He Needed Help

At first, Moore was confident that no one else had noticed the change in his drinking habits as he considered himself to be “high functioning.” However, it got to a point where he noticed just how much energy he was putting into drinking compared to the more important aspects of his life. So he finally made the decision to get help.

“I came home one Sunday as we do every Sunday, usually on the bus…And I walked straight upstairs, told my wife, I go, ‘I got to go get help. I just got to do it. I have to do it.’ And it wasn’t fun. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve ever done anything like that, but it wasn’t fun. But I just looked at it like a business trip. And so today’s my 65th day sober.”

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Lawrence acknowledged that in their line of business, a lot of their days are centered around alcohol, between the number one parties, backstage events, weekend shows and more.

“It’s all fun and games when you’re young, but there comes a time as we get older when you got to step back and go, ‘This is not really good for me as a human being anymore,” he stated.

Moore Opens Up About What He Faced in Treatment

Moore says he went to a treatment facility outside of Nashville, where he went through all the positive and negative moments of his life, spanning his earliest memories all the way to the present day and the trauma, relationships and more that came in between.

“It was awful. I’m telling you, freaking awful, just the emotional rollercoaster and the purging of all that stuff. And because you get to a certain place in life where you’re dealing with some things and you’ve got these issues and you’re masking them, sometimes it’s so far buried back that you don’t even remember why you started. And you don’t even know.”

After everything he’s been through, Moore says he’s proud of himself and feels more like himself than he has in a long time. He acknowledges that getting back on stage sober has been an adjustment, but says there have been plenty of positives that have come from getting the help he needed.

“I’m singing better. I remember the shows. And again, it wasn’t constant with me. It was just that one night where you go, ‘I didn’t do my best.’ And these fans, man, they deserve our best. And I lost sight of that for a little while, and I’m not ashamed to admit it…There was a lot of the therapy stuff. But fortunately, it was only once a week. But I mean, it helped. I mean, I’m not going to lie and say it didn’t.”

Justin Moore Reveals a Recent Health Scare

Along with getting sober, Justin Moore took this time to get every aspect of his health in check. Fans may have recently noticed that the “Small Town USA” singer has had some weight gain around his neck. He explains that he has developed a benign growth that if removed could impact his singing and speaking voice, as he was told surgery would be “very, very difficult.”

“I’m sure people think, ‘Golly, he’s been eating good.’ We thought it was called a lipoma. It’s just fat. It’s benign, thank God…it doesn’t affect me. I just looked like a linebacker circa 1982, thick neck, whatever. But it’s like my wife and I were walking out of the hospital when I had an MRI or something. And they had told us, ‘Man, great news is benign. But there’s really not anything we can do about it.’ So I was kind of bummed out walking out of the hospital because at the time we didn’t know it was cancer. We didn’t know what it was. And of course, your mind takes you to the worst possible places obviously.”

Although his appearance looks a bit different now, Lawrence admits he is just thankful that the diagnosis was not more serious.

“My wife looked at me, she goes, ‘If you just have a fat neck and you’re here for the next 50 years, then shut up and stop complaining.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ve never sold records because of my looks in the first place,” he added with a laugh.

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Overall, the Arkansas native says he is “doing great” and also feels “great.”

“Situations like that really shine a light on what’s important in life. And I thought I knew that and I did, but I kind of lost sight of it. And so yeah, I’m in a really good spot right now and God willing, it’ll continue. 

Justin Moore is officially back on the road, with shows scheduled all the way through November.