Billy Bob Thornton believes acid made him a ‘better artist’

Billy Bob Thornton didn’t enjoy taking acid but believes it made him a “better artist”.

Billy Bob Thornton believes taking acid made him a “better artist”.

The 70-year-old actor “did everything” at the height of his addiction issues in his 20s and while he “didn’t like” the experiences he had while doing “a lot of psychedelics”, he ultimately believes they have benefitted him.

Speaking on the After Dinner Thinks with Ann Wilson podcast, he said: “I was a drug addict. I quit drugs when I was 24. I did everything.

“I even was on morphine for a while, ’cause I had a nurse friend…

“And what was funny about acid was — I didn’t like it. I didn’t have good trips. And I kept doing it ’cause everybody else was doing it.”

“I do believe it did unlock my mind to be a better artist. I honestly believe that psychedelics helped me as a writer and as an artist in general.”

While the Landman actor feels those experiences happened to “another person” because he’s changed so much since then he believes the effect of the drug is “still around”.

He continued: “It’s so funny to think about those days, ’cause it almost seems like another person to me. But I think it still resonates, and the residue of it is still around. And I’m not sure Paul McCartney and John Lennon were wrong when they said doing acid and opening their minds up did help them with whatever [song] it was.”

Billy realised his addiction was going to kill him and managed to quit without the support of a rehab programme.

He said: “I’m glad I quit when I did. Because I was this skinny little long-haired hippie, working as a roadie, and I looked in the mirror on an airstream trailer one day and said, ‘You’re gonna die. You have to stop.’

“Back then they didn’t have programs and support groups and things like that.

“I quit on my own. I sweated it out for about four days.”

Meanwhile, Billy Bob recently described his marriage to Angelina Jolie as “one of the greatest times” of his life.

The actor looks back on their relationship fondly and admits they are still very good friends after going through a “really civilised” break-up in 2003.

He told Rolling Stone magazine: “Angelina and I had a great time together. That was one of the greatest times of my life.

“She and I are still very, very close friends. And that was the one that ended up being a really civilised break-up. We simply split up because our lifestyles were so different.”

Billy Bob also addressed the wild rumours that occurred after it emerged the former couple used to wear vials of each other’s blood around their necks.

He said: “We each had a little locket, literally with a drop of blood in them. That’s a romantic little idea, and that’s all that was.

“But by the time it’s over, we’re vampires. We live in a dungeon, we drink each other’s blood, and this kind of stuff.”