Machine Gun Kelly, the rapper who now goes by the moniker MGK, is celebrating one year of sobriety after entering a rehab facility last year.
“I’m completely sober from everything,” he shared in the episode, published on Aug. 5. “I don’t drink anymore. I haven’t drank since last August.”
Baker said he checked into rehab after concluding his European tour last year, noting that it was the first time he had ever sought that type of treatment.
“They just gave me so many ways to operate the body and show where this, like, anger is coming from and methods to quell it,” he explained.
“I met with a lot of psychiatrists—some who gave up on me and many therapists who did the same. But I ended up falling into an awareness of what my condition is and have made peace with it. It’s a constant tightrope walk.”
Sobriety Journey
During his interview, Baker praised his friends for helping him navigate his struggles with mental health and substance abuse. He also credited his on-again, off-again partner, actress Megan Fox, for being “extremely helpful” while he worked to overcome his psychological withdrawal symptoms.Reflecting on his sobriety, the rap-rocker said his newfound clear-headedness has allowed him to be a better parent to his 15-year-old daughter, Casie, whom he shares with his ex, Emma Cannon.
“I love that I’m clear when I look at, you know, the person I love,” he said.
“I’m really happy that when I’m clear—when my daughter and I are having our conversations, and I’m coming from a place of being centered and holding space for what a child needs from their parent, you know, which is patience and advice,” he continued.
Baker expressed that one of the things he regretted most about his relationship with his daughter was that she could always tell when he wasn’t sober.
“That is like the ultimate sign of just disappointment in yourself,” he admitted. “I continue to embrace that this journey is gonna be hard for me, but I accept it and forgive myself.”
Don Omar and Machine Gun Kelly perform onstage during Univision's 36th Premio Lo Nuestro at Kaseya Center in Miami, Fla., on Feb. 22, 2024. (Ivan Apfel/Getty Images)
Childhood Trauma
Elsewhere in the interview, Baker candidly reflected on some of the traumatic experiences he suffered as a child, including being raised by an emotionally distant father—who was also severely affected by his own childhood wounds.Baker recounted a harrowing ordeal involving his father and grandmother, who were both arrested and tried for the murder of his grandfather decades ago. “[My father] was on trial at nine years old for the murder of his father,” the singer said, noting that they were both acquitted of the crime.
Baker said the horrific event caused his dad to develop dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder) later in life, leading his mother to move out when he was nine.
“I fought back with all those traumas by becoming what I always wanted my dad to be, which was like tough and, you know, shake everything off and just fight anyone who comes at you,” Baker explained.
“I’m tired and I’m a really shy, [messed] up kid internally and really broken,” he continued. “And I’m just now fixing myself.”
On July 5, 2020, Baker took to X to announce the passing of his father, who died exactly one year after the release of the singer’s fourth studio album, “Hotel Diablo,” which features riveting songs about his troubled childhood and some of his mental health struggles.
“But my father took his last breath this morning, and ive never felt a pain this deep in my life. i’m setting my phone down. love you.”
