- Michael McDonald’s new memoir, What a fool believeswill be released on May 21
- In the book, he recounts his journey to addiction and sobriety, which he found after being kicked out of his wife’s recovery meeting for being drunk
- The Doobie Brothers member lives by the motto “one day at a time” and hasn’t had a drink since
Michael McDonald opens up about the day that changed his life forever.
In McDonald’s new memoir What a fool believes, out Tuesday, May 21, the Doobie Brothers member reveals his dark journey with addiction — and ultimately sobriety. In one harrowing passage from the book, McDonald is prevented from entering family counseling for his wife’s drug and alcohol recovery and is faced with an important decision.
“I was shown the door and I looked toward the nurse’s place. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘What are you going to do? You can’t show up here like this. What’s your next move?’ I hated that question at that time in my life, I just didn’t want anyone to ask me what I was going to do,” McDonald, 72, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “But at that point, I felt like I was giving up and I just said, ‘I don’t know. ‘.”
A few years ago, McDonald – whose addiction to alcohol and cocaine worsened until he was under the influence for most of the day – was placed on a year’s probation after officers raided his then-girlfriend’s apartment and found drugs. He was instructed to attend AA meetings and had a sponsor.
While McDonald was being shown the door at family counseling, he ran into that same sponsor – whom he hadn’t seen in 15 years.
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“He said, ‘What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘Well, I think I’m out,'” McDonald recalls. “And I remember in my head, I heard a voice at that moment. It wasn’t mine – and I’m not one of those people. So this was very strange to me. But I heard a special voice in my head saying, ‘Jig is ready.’ And I remember thinking first of all, who the hell says that’s a word? I’ve never used that phrase in my life, what am I a 40’s detective?
He continues, “And after I got over that, I suddenly realized that this is the moment where I have to make a decision. The bus is leaving once again, and I might not be here when it comes back. And I had so much to lose at that moment.”
Michael McDonald and Amy Holland in Los Angeles in September 2016.
Allen Berezovsky/Getty
The rest was history. McDonald managed to stay sober the rest of the night, “which was unusual for me,” and returned to AA meetings the next day.
“I knew something had changed in me. I just had one of those moments of clarity that I fear most today that if I ever forget where I am or where I came from, enough to pick up the next drink, I may never get it back. I may never again to have that moment,” he says.
Now McDonald has been sober for 27 years, and one thing remains the same: “As long as I don’t have the next drink, I’ll be fine.”
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“I’ve learned that my greatest strength when I go into the future is to remember my past and remember it vividly and not get amnesia, not think that I have this because I will never have this,” he says.
“It’s really one day at a time for me and I have to make that decision every day in a renewed effort to live this day to the best of my ability,” concludes McDonald. “The beauty of it is that you suddenly turn around one day and it seems like a blink of an eye and you’re looking 30 years behind you day by day, and that’s life.”
What a fool believes, written by McDonald’s longtime friend and actor Paul Reiser, tells McDonald’s life story from first stepping behind a microphone as a child to working with idols like Ray Charles and Patti LaBelle — and of course, the Doobie Brothers. McDonald is also seen getting vulnerable like never before as he talks about his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis and journey with addiction.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education