One of the biggest warning signs that Timbaland’s pill addiction had become life-threatening was when he began stopping breathing in his sleep. Reflecting on that difficult period during a recent B High ATL conversation, the producer revealed that his then-wife once saw him stop breathing while he was asleep. Although Timbaland said he never viewed himself as suicidal at the time, he now understands the severity of what was happening.
“I ain’t never think about suicide, but then I said, you know what? I was committing suicide every day,” he said.
The conversation came as Timbaland opened up about Chris Cornell and the personal struggles he was facing during his own battle with addiction. At the time, his marriage was falling apart, and he relied on pills as a way to cope with the challenges around him. Looking back, the legendary producer described his OxyContin addiction as a slow form of self-destruction and credited God with helping him survive a period that could have ended much differently.
Timbaland has previously opened up about just how severe his addiction became. During a 2023 appearance on Club Shay Shay, the producer revealed that his prescription drug use started with Vicodin before eventually escalating to around 160 milligrams of OxyContin daily. At that point, Timbaland said nearly everyone he knew who had taken that much had died. He also recalled experiencing an out-of-body moment where he saw himself lying in bed.
The prescription painkillers first became part of his life while he was dealing with lingering nerve pain from being shot as a teenager. By his 30s, what started as a way to manage pain had developed into a serious dependency. Timbaland has since admitted that the addiction affected more than just his health. He later revealed that his creativity suffered during that period and that some of the music he considers his best work was created after becoming sober.
Walking away from the pills required more than simply stopping the medication. Timbaland has credited his children with giving him the motivation to quit and has revealed that Jay-Z and Drake were among those who stepped in when they noticed his struggles. Years later, he no longer describes his addiction as something he merely survived, but as a battle he was able to overcome.
