The One Shady Detail About Steven Tyler Everyone Ignores

Cocaine and rock are pretty synonymous, especially when talking about the 1970s. According to "Social History of the United States," the drug's popularity increased sevenfold during this period, and for the first time ever, people were using it more than heroin. Unsurprising, as it was glamorized in U.S. pop culture as associated with wealth and celebrity. A quick look at the bands from the 1970s makes this clear, and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler perhaps encapsulates this glamor best. In particular, one shady detail about his drug use: the amount he spent.

In a 2013 interview with the Australian "60 Minutes," Steven Tyler told Liz Hayes he's probably spent 5 or 6 million on cocaine in his life. "But it doesn't matter," he added, per UPI. "You could also say I've snorted half of Peru. It's what we did." Years later, in 2018, Tyler appeared on "The Late Late Show with James Corden," this time saying he'd spent "about $2 million," again saying he "snorted half of Peru," per People.

In the 1970s, doctors didn't treat cocaine with the severity they do today. Tyler claimed in his autobiography, "Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?," that they said it was "habituating," but not addictive. "They didn't know at the time that the drug would eventually take a sharp turn after a certain day," he wrote. "Blow, once the life of the party, became the stuff of fear and loathing, the source of devious and secretive behavior, and the mother of all lies."

Steven Tyler began using drugs in his teens. In a 2012 interview with Oprah, he revealed why he was so drawn to them. "They made me feel like a rock star before I was one," he told her. "Because I thought that's what rock stars did — fake it till you make it." His fixation on cocaine in particular was intertwined with his other drug use, driving the cycle of addiction that so many experience. "We would do cocaine to go up, quaaludes to come down," he said in a 2019 interview with GQ. "We would drink and then snort some coke until we thought we were straight. But that's not true — you're just drunk and coked out."

While Aerosmith toured the globe, they had a designated "drug" area onstage — behind the curtains, outside the view of others, and off-limits to anyone but the band. Here, substances were laid across a table, and while performing Tyler and others would sneak off to the side and do their drug of choice — cocaine or heroin. "Drugs were just part of being in rock 'n' roll then," he wrote in "Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?" "Nobody knew the downside of years and years of cocaine abuse and we could care less. It was the thing to do. Everybody laying it out for you, even the cops." In his autobiography, Tyler dove deep into his life of excess, noting that one time he and a group of people wrote their names in cocaine before snorting their respective lines.

A lifestyle of excessive drug use obviously comes with many dangers, which aren't often helped by the touring lifestyle and unhealthy living it can promote. "It absolutely works for a while," Steven Tyler told GQ. "But then things go wrong. You become addicted, it's something you do all the time, and suddenly it starts influencing your greatness." Fortunately for him, he had a support system.

Tyler is 76 as of this writing and has taken many steps to address his substance abuse issues. He entered rehab for the first time in 1988 at the urging of his bandmates and management. In a 2019 talk with Haute Living, Tyler admitted he was angry at them for years — but has since come to respect them for staging the intervention. "[T]oday because of that moment ... I am grateful and owe a thanks to them for my sobriety," he said. He entered three more times in his life, his most recent stint in May 2022 after relapsing on the pain medication. He left in late June doing "extremely well," a representative for Aerosmith told People at the time.

In August 2024, Aerosmith announced on X (formerly Twitter) that they would be retiring from playing live shows. The statement cited Tyler's voice after experiencing damaged vocal cords and a fractured larynx. "We've seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side," it read. "Sadly, it is clear, that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible."

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).