"I went to Betty Ford for one reason.  
I went there because I had to stop doing 
cocaine.  And the reason that I had done 
coke, from about 1979 to 1985 was that 
a) everybody else did it, and 
b) it was like taking a diet pill.

For me, the reason I stopped was 
because it was really hurting my nose.  
And I was told that it was going to 
damage my head.  So I really had
no choice.  I didn't make a big moral 
decision that I was going to stop doing 
the stuff.  I was sort of told, 
you'd better stop.  Or you're 
going to be very, very sorry in 
a couple of years.

 

So when I went to Betty Ford, 
I realized that cocaine allowed 
me to do more than  it was necessary 
for me to do. The important things 
I had to do I got done anyway.  
And that all that extra time allowed 
me to do a bunch of stuff not that well.  
You know, like you get crazy and say well,
I'm just gonna write three songs tonight, 
I'm gonna sit at my typewriter
and I'm gonna write ten pages of my future 
book, and I'm gonna go through
all of my closets and I'm gonna pick 
out all the things that I want to take
with me on my next trip.   I'm gonna 
do all that by tomorrow.  And you don't
have to do that.  What I learned at 
Betty Ford is that it isn't necessary
to go non-stop, seven days a week, 
even though everybody will always 
tell you that.


Do people always still want me to be beautiful?  
Yes, they do.  
Do they always want me to have unending energy?  
Yes they do.  
Do they want me to be funny?  
Yes.  
Do they want me to entertain them?  
Yes.  
Do they want me to play my music, 
and go and sit at the piano, 
and show them my art drawings, 
and show them my writing and talk to them?  
Yes.  They do.
 

 

That's not changed.  
They still expect 
as much out of me as 
they ever did. 
The only thing is 
that I close the door 
once in a while and say 
I have to rest.


At Betty Ford, they basically 
tell you, in their own 
sometimes very insensitive way, 
that the world will suck you dry.  
And then, you'll die, and nobody 
will care.  And you'll be gone, 
and you won't be able to do any
of those wonderful things that 
you were doing anymore.  It will 
be all over, and everybody will 
forget.  So they just sorta try 
to bring it home that you are 
worthwhile to the world, and 
that maybe there is a reason that
you're here, that there are 
things that you want to do over 
the next 30 years, not over the 
next three.

 
And also, when you're 
at Betty Ford, they don't 
let you stop moving
for a minute.  You get 
up at 6:00 and you 
don't stop until  9:00 
that night.  
And all of a sudden, 
a week later, you realize 
that you must have
an awful lot of energy, 
because you're not doing 
anything to keep you up,
and neither is anybody else.  
You have to go to 
all these seminars and
meetings and you have 
to be on time.  And you'd 
better be on time, or 
they're 
going 
to be  
very, 
very 
unpleasant 
to 
you.