Now Sober, Mark Chesnutt Reveals How Close He Was to Death

Mark Chesnutt is getting candid about his struggle with alcohol. During an appearance on the Big D & Bubba radio show, the country singer said that drinking alcohol “just about killed” him.

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Chesnutt said that his alcohol usage greatly increased after he underwent back surgery in 2021. At the time, he was unable to do much physically.

“I got real bad with it. I took it to the extreme.” he said. “… I went through a period there that was really bad after my back surgery. I just sat around and drank all the time. That’s all I could do. I couldn’t eat. I was pretty miserable all the time.”

As such, he started drinking beer and the occasional whiskey. Eventually, he graduated to wine and then vodka.

“I started hitting the vodka really hard. Me and ole Tito’s, best friends for a long time,” he recalled. “I’d go through about a handle [a day]. It got bad.”

Mark Chesnutt Opens Up About Quitting Alcohol

Chesnutt eventually quit drinking, which he said was “a big deal.” Now, Chesnutt said he no longer craves alcohol and can be around people who are drinking with no issues.

Chesnutt now feels “better than I ever was,” despite undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery in June 2024.

“It’s been rough. I put my body through a lot. And I paid for it. But you know, I feel a lot better,” he said. “… I’m all healed up now and stronger than I’ve ever been.”

In fact, after his heart surgery, Chesnutt said that he “felt like I was 18 again.”

“When you get older, you slow down a little bit. We don’t have the energy we had when we were in our 30s, 40s, 20s. That’s what they tell me I’m supposed to feel like, but I don’t feel like that,” he said. “I feel like I have more energy than I had when I was in my 30s.”

“When I was in my 30s I was drinking a lot. In my 40s I was drinking a lot. Fifties I was drinking way too much, and so that’s when I quit,” Chesnutt added. “… I feel so good now, man. I wake up every day and thank the good lord that I’m still kicking.”

Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Country Thunder