Alice Cooper recalled being reduced to tears in his dressing room just by looking at his stage costume.

The shock-rock legend endured the experience of loving and hating his life while in the depths of alcohol and drug addiction in the mid-‘80s. In a new edition of Audible's Words + Music series, "Who I Really Am: Diary of a Vampire," he described how he felt in his worst moments.

“I was drinking more and more,” Cooper admitted. “I would get to the show, I would look at my costume lying out, I would remember crying, looking at it, knowing what I had to do in order to get that show done. ... The only place I felt comfortable was onstage, so it was a nightmare getting me into my costume, getting me onstage … and once I got there, I felt great. But it was the only two hours during the day that I felt well at all.”

He said he struggled to find a way out of his predicament. “I tried many cures, lots of different doctors, lots of different methods, nothing worked," he explained. "It just kept getting worse. I loved doing the show, I hated doing the show. I loved my life, but I hated my life. I could be so much better than this.”

"Who I Really Am: Diary of a Vampire" also includes classic tracks from his catalog. “Cooper generously shares you-had-to-be-there tales of the band’s early days in Hollywood and mythic all-nighters with rock’s premier luminaries,” a statement read. “Also included are new recordings of the hits ‘I’m Eighteen,’ ‘School’s Out’ and ‘Poison.’ Not many artists can claim credit for creating an entire style or genre. Don’t miss the chance to hear a consummate showman reveal that storytelling might be his greatest talent of all.”

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