Debbie Harry's addiction struggles explored as Blondie’s singer opens up about drug use

Singer-songwriter and actress Deborah Ann Harry, commonly known as Debbie Harry, in a recent interview opened up about her addiction struggles. The 80-year-old Harry, who gained widespread fame in the '70s and early '80s as the lead singer of the rock band Blondie, has had a history of drug use. Debbie and her former romantic partner and bandmate, Chris Stein, the lead guitarist of the band, formed Blondie in 1974 in New York City.

In a June 30, 2025, interview with Vanity Fair, Debbie Harry shared that she and the 75-year-old Stein were at the peak of their drug addiction as they were "struggling with a lot of stuff." Debbie said:

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"Chris (Stein) was overcoming something and we didn’t know what it was."

The Blondie's lead guitarist later found out that he had an autoimmune illness, known as pemphigus vulgaris, which is an uncommon chronic skin blistering disease. Debbie Harry went ahead and said:

"We needed to do some drugs to stabilize ourselves from some kind of emotional rollercoaster. Had we gone to a shrink, we probably would have been severely medicated. But that also was a sign of the times, because drugs were everywhere. In my social circle, people would come over and just do drugs together."

Debbie Harry, besides being a famed rock star, is also an actress and has been in several movies. Not to mention, she has acted alongside distinguished actors like Sir Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz, Michael Rapaport, Elijah Wood, and others. Some of her movies include Elegy, A Good Night to Die, All I Want, and many more.

Debbie Harry's rock/punk band Blondie gained major recognition after releasing their third album, Parallel Lines, in 1978, which catapulted them to international success, turning the lead singer into a renowned figure in the new wave and punk circuit. This was when Debbie was at the peak of her career and began using drugs, which was quite common at the time.

According to Rolling Stone, Blondie, as it was a part of NYC's underground scene, played at the popular club CBGB much of 1975. During her interview, Debbie Harry was asked about the time when she used heroin at CBGB. She said:

"A lot of it was going around, but I never got the impression that people were nodding out, sniveling old junkies."

Debbie continued and said:

"It was a different atmosphere. Now, I feel it was a waste of time, but I don’t regret having had the experiences. I can’t go around regretting everything in my life; that would be such a waste."

Debbie Harry called drugs "chic"

In a 1993 interview with Q magazine, referenced by Louder in January 2025, Debbie Harry called drugs "chic" and claimed that:

"Everyone in New York was fooling around with drugs"

While Harry talked about the '60s, when using drugs like cocaine and so on was just another thing that mostly people belonging to the art world did, she said:

"That's just what the scene was like. It wasn't like today where everybody knows what the implications are and what the results are. It was just a very small, elitist art world. Up in a loft. Look at my pictures! Aren't they neat? Yeah? Okay, let's do some drugs to celebrate, then. It was just a fashionable situation. The stockbrokers weren't doing cocaine, only we were doing cocaine. It was just for freaks, and the quantities that are available now weren't available then. It was the 1960s, man."

Debbie Harry also mentioned the time when she was using heroin and several other drugs. The lead singer said:

"I was doing heroin. I was taking a serious addictive substance. Actually, I should say, was taking several serious addictive substances. Plural. But, you know, at that time it was part of the scene. Everything was like, 'Hey, man, this is the latest drug and this is the newest drug and here comes the next drug and you really ought to try this!' So I tried it. Whatever it was."

In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, while discussing her heroin use, Debbie claimed it was a "necessary evil." She further added by saying:

"To some degree, it was self-medicating. It was a rough, depressing time of life and it seemed to suit the purpose, but then it outlived its benefits."

However, Debbie Harry later stopped using heroin, like most people do, by going to therapy or attending a program.

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