Avicii started looking like 'zombie' amid struggles with drugs and alcohol, new documentary reveals

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

TRIBECA, NEW YORK: The late Swedish DJ and EDM producer, Avicii looked like a “zombie” towards the end of his life after relying way too much on painkillers. 

The famed DJ took his own life in 2018 when he was just 18. On Sunday, June 9, a documentary on Avicii, born Tim Bergling, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. 

The documentary titled ‘I’m Tim’ shed light on the troubled life of the DJ who found fame when he was just a teenager, and at one point he was even making $750,000 per show.

Avicii's struggles with alcoholism

The documentary brought together Avicii’s near and dear ones who gave an insight into the troubled life of the DJ. 

Jesse Waits, who became like an older brother to Avicii, shared in the documentary that towards the end of his life, the EDM producer started looking like a “zombie” after he overdid on painkillers. He shared that though he was physically present there with his eyes “wide open,” he was “not there.”

It gave a grappling insight into Avicii’s struggle, as the film started with his narration taken from an interview given later in his career, per Daily Mail. 

Avicii shared in the haunting introduction that he was having a tough time because of his relentless touring and admitted, “I was killing myself.”

The documentary not only featured Waits, but several other musicians who collaborated with Avicii, including singer Aloe Blacc, who lent his voice to Avicii's hit 'Wake Me Up', Coldplay’s Chris Martin, and Nile Rogers. 

The film revealed that after finding fame even before he turned 20, Avicii struggled with anxieties and mental health issues along with suffering from drug and alcohol abuse. Following his health complications, he stopped touring in 2016, at the age of 26. 

During a trip to Muscat, Oman, in 2018, the DJ tragically put an end to life by cutting himself with a broken wine bottle. 

Upon his death, his family shared a statement where they noted heartbreakingly that Avicii “could not go on anymore” and “wanted peace” for himself.

Documentary details his childhood and mental health issues

The film notes that the late DJ grew up in Stockholm and led a sheltered life. However, he was “insecure” even back then. 

While in school, he met Filip Akesson, also known as DJ Philgood, and the duo started making music together. Avicii’s voiceover says in the film, “I went from being young, from school, to touring.”

His knack for creating melodies soon made him a crowd favorite, and his reputation hit a new high when he released his now prophetic single, ‘Alcoholic’, where a lyric reads, “Call it what you wanna call it, I'm a f*****g alcoholic.”

In 2011, he released ‘Levels’ and in 2013, he launched his debut album ‘True.’ The album also features his lead single ‘Wake Me Up.’ 

Avicii, being a natural introvert, found it difficult to face the crowd when he was not boozing. He said in the film, “I realized how stiff I was when I wasn't drinking so I found the magical cure of having a couple of drinks before going on to loosen you up.”

He continued, “I just took everything on that I could. I didn't realize you could do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday but once that opened up you could tour the whole year.”

“I was killing myself. The touring went even more crazy because the fees were getting higher… everything went so fast from that point on,” added the late star. 

His alcohol abuse started hurting his health and in January 2012, he was taken to the hospital with pancreatitis, a condition of the inflamed pancreas that happens because of excessive alcohol consumption. 

Though he was strictly advised by the doctors to refrain from alcohol for at least six months, Avicii wrote in his diaries that he had a “hard time accepting never drinking again.”

A year later, he was again rushed to the hospital after his pancreas inflamed for the second time. 

During this time, he lost significant weight. But he accepted that his decision to not rest and recuperate would have a debilitating effect on his health. 

The musician admitted, “I was a lot happier before I was famous than after I was famous. I started feeling very unhappy. I was on autopilot mode. I started really f*****g wondering why I was feeling like this. I had been acting away because this is how you're supposed to be acting.”

“I think I didn't give myself enough time to figure out if there was something I wanted to change,” added the star. 

Waits shared later in the film that Avicii’s health scare continued and he had to get his stomach pumped out for consuming too much alcohol in the following year. 

Though initially he was furious, Avicii agreed when his family intervened and sent him to a $ 13,000-a-week rehab center in Ibiza.

Nevertheless, his trouble persisted as Waits recalled a particular dinner with Avicii in Stockholm where he seemed out of sorts. 

Waits explained, “I realized he was taking painkillers. I grew up with family that did drugs and I saw when people do opiates their eyes change. The pin, the little black parts of their eyes.”

“His eyes were wide open like a zombie, he was not there. At the dinner, his demeanor changed and his eyes dilated,” shared Waits. 

He continued, “That changed everything, those pills change how you act and how you feel. You wake up feeling like s**t and have to have another one to feel good,” and added, “For him it was to suppress his anxiety but it just created more anxiety.”

Avicii too shared his struggles in old interviews that are featured in the film. He shared that he was “so anxious” all the time, that “I could feel it physically.”

He added, “It was like a stone in my guts, and it was constant, a constant emotion.”

Even though he tried all avenues, Avicii shared, “It's really hard. It got to a point where I didn't like it (touring and making music) anymore.”

“It's me trying to be something that isn't me. The dream would be to be completely at ease with what I have already and not have any aspirations to do a billion other things, not be grinding constantly… then I'll be happy,” continued the star. 

“I want to be free from the ideas of living life. That kept me from living a life… that would be life for me, being content,” continued the star DJ.

He also complained about the industry saying, he was “thrown into an industry where it's about chasing how many views you have, how many comments - it's become almost impossible to stay away from.”

“You can't have a meeting with somebody in the industry without them mentioning 60 times different statistics and why this is better than that,” noted the DJ.