Depth of addiction revealed

Billy Connolly was so addicted to drink and drugs that he regularly passed out, would ask for alcohol at breakfast and drink up to 30 brandies a night.

The depth of the Glaswegian comic's problem is revealed by wife Pamela Stephenson in a biography serialised in today's Observer.

She tells how Connolly, wasted on wine and cocaine, once passed out in Elton John's recording studio, while those around him thought he had died.

On another occasion he had to call his manager Pete Brown because he literally couldn't find his way out of a phone box and had to be rescued. Connolly was too drunk to read the address on the wall, so Brown drove round all his usual London haunts until he found him and dragged his semi-comatose body out.

Stephenson also tells how her husband went on a bender with The Who drummer Keith Moon the day before he died, and how he once danced drunkenly with chat show host Michael Parkinson in the middle of traffic in London's King's Cross, before fleeing approaching policeman.

The revelations are contained in her book Billy, published by HarperCollins tomorrow (October 1), priced £17.99. Click here to buy it for £14.39 from Amazon.

Published: 30 Sep 2001