Ruston Kelly opens up about addiction, his journey to sobriety
- By Sarah Brohi -
- Jul 30, 2026
Ruston Kelly shared an update on his drug addiction after relapsing.
On Wednesday, taking to his Instagram handle, the singer announced that he is now three days sober. Ruston penned a note, “I told myself back in 2021 that as long as I wasn’t using amphetamines, that I would be on the right ‘clean’ journey for myself”.
He further wrote, “I had never been addicted to any drug other than those pills. I lumped in alcohol and THC, etc initially because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do.” He continued with his statement, “Somewhere along the way I became obstinate in my journey, that I wasn’t an ‘addict’ in the traditional sense of the word, that I was only addicted to amphetamines. ‘I’ve never had a problem with alcohol, I’ve never had a problem with XYZ’ ‘See I can be like everyone else, I can show self control, I am in control’”.
He added, “I even got to the point of recent spiritual surrender and still attempted to live a lifestyle that was satisfactory to my carnal impulses because I ‘never had a problem with them’”.
The Mockingbird crooner revealed that he experienced a crisis in his sobriety after a freak golf cart accident in early June. Ruston was driving a golf cart in a residential area when it struck a thick tree root protruding from the ground, sending his cart flipping into the air.
“I was given fentanyl, morphine, ketamine, Dilaudid, and oxycodone for 3 days, leaving with a month-long Rx of Percocet. I needed it for the level 15 pain, but very quickly they started running out sooner and sooner,” the singer acknowledged. “I was chewing them in the pharmacy before I walked out the door. I was hiding how many at a time I was taking. I was complaining to the doctor it wasn’t enough. It awakened something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.”
“I decided to end any chance of ruining anything good. For my soul, my wife, my family, my art and career,areer and my people,” he wrote. “I admitted that whether I like it or not, I will forever have a substance abuse disease. ALL drugs/substances including alcohol and THC are off the table for good (working on nicotine). If there is something that will scratch an itch I didn’t think I had, I will use it beyond excess and into addiction,” he continued.
“I am 3 days completely clean and sober again, and intend to remain this way forever, one day at a time,” added Ruston.