Sum 41's Deryck Whibley Talks Alcohol Overdose, New Music

Nearly a year after Deryck Whibley almost killed himself from drinking too much alcohol, the Sum 41 lead vocalist now says he’s “in the best shape” of his life and realizes “there’s this whole world out there.”

“I’m glad it happened now and not when I’m like, 50, because my body wouldn’t have been able to handle it,” Whibley, 35, said in an interview Tuesday with Vice’s music channel Noisey. “It’s unfortunate it had to come to that. However, now I’m feeling better than I’ve ever felt. I’m healthier … I’m more productive. Well, I was always really productive, but I was just good at being a functional alcoholic.”

Last April, the rocker collapsed in his kitchen with a drink in his hand and was rushed by his fiancée, Ariana Cooper, to the hospital, where doctors said Whibley’s liver and kidneys had failed from serious alcohol abuse.

He was placed in a coma and sedated for a week to help his body detox.

“I still have trouble with my walking, because being in the hospital for that long, everything just depleted. My muscles, everything,” said Whibley, noting that his alcoholism escalated when he began drinking in the mornings to cope with hangovers, and by doing shots of Jack Daniel’s to get onstage. “I couldn’t walk for the longest time, and I’m still retraining myself to walk normally. The doctors say it’s been going quickly, but it feels pretty slow to me. I am dying to get onstage.”

The ex-husband of Avril Lavigne, Whibley now says his “liver is fine,” adding that he is “halfway through a record” and is writing a song called “God—-, I’m Dead Again.”

He is also deeply committed to his sobriety.

“If I literally hadn’t done it to death, I might feel like I’ll be missing something, but I’m not missing anything. I’m done with it … it’s not even really that fun,” said Whibley. “One of the first decisions I made as a sober person was to cut out people who didn’t need to be there.”

These days, Whibley is simply looking forward to returning to the stage: “There are so many exciting things now. So many things are new for me. I’d never done anything sober. I’ve been a hard-partying drinker since I was 17 … Now there’s this whole world out there and things I’m realizing I’ve never done.”