Steven Tyler glad he’s off the drugs

Steven Tyler claims he would be dead “several times over” if he hadn’t received help for his drug addiction. The Aerosmith frontman has been sober for 16 months but says he’s lucky to be alive because he has abused his body so much with drink and drugs at different stages in his life.

“Left up to my own devices, I probably would have been dead several times over,” Tyler told People magazine.

The I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing hitmaker says one of the reasons he doesn’t need drugs any more is because he gets all his highs from being a judge on American Idol.

“If you think going out in front of high-def cameras and millions of people I’m not high on adrenaline, you’re crazy,” he said. “I’m stoned when that curtain drops. I just don’t snort the curtain dropping. I don’t snort J.Lo either, though I do breathe her in.”

At the end of 2009, Steven checked into rehab to seek treatment for his addiction to painkillers, which comes from years of orthopaedic injuries.