Paris Jackson is opening up about the terrifying moment a friend nearly died after overdosing on drugs that belonged to her. The 28-year-old singer, who has spoken candidly about her past addiction to heroin and alcohol, said she was forced to rely on her first-responder training until paramedics arrived.
Jackson made the revelation during an appearance on Alex Cooper‘s “Call Her Daddy” podcast while discussing “Sirens,” one of the most emotional songs she has written. Despite being told that her quick response may have saved her friend’s life, Jackson admitted the traumatic experience did not immediately lead her to seek sobriety.
When Cooper asked Jackson which of her songs had been the most difficult to write, the daughter of the late Michael Jackson pointed to “Sirens.” “Probably ‘Sirens,’ that one’s very emotional. Yeah, that was about a buddy of mine that OD’d on my drugs, and I had to handle that till the paramedics arrived,” she revealed on the episode.
Jackson, who was around 20 years old when the incident occurred in 2018, remembered struggling with the unpredictability of her body’s response during the emergency. “That was scary because in a situation like that, you know, even though I had experience with being a trained first responder, when you go into fight or flight… it’s a gamble of how your brain’s going to react,” she explained. “Just because you know what to do, your brain still might tell you to freeze, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Jackson managed to respond despite that fear and remained with her friend until emergency personnel reached them. “It was definitely a lucky situation, and the paramedics had said… if you had gotten there any later, he either would be dead or brain dead,” she recalled.
Jackson did not publicly identify the friend or disclose additional information about his recovery.
Although the near-fatal overdose left a profound impression on Jackson, she admitted that she continued using drugs afterward. “It’s also definitely a testament to the whole, like, it takes what it takes, [because] I still didn’t get sober for another year and a half after that,” she said.
Jackson has since adopted an all-or-nothing approach to protecting her sobriety because she believes using any intoxicating substance could send her back to heroin. “If I have a hit of weed or a drink, I’m gonna go back on heroin,” she stated.
She explained that she initially attempted to stop using harder drugs while continuing to consume marijuana and alcohol. However, she soon recognized that she could not control her use of those substances either.
“If I have a hit of weed or a drink, I’m going to go back on heroin. I realized I couldn’t stop after I’d gotten rid of like some of the harder stuff, and I realized even with weed and alcohol, I was like, I just couldn’t stop, and it was just getting worse,” Jackson said. “I had my breaking point, I had my bottom. It just kind of did it for me.”
The musician celebrated six years of sobriety earlier this year.
Paris Jackson Reveals Her First Engagement Happened While On Drugs
Jackson also discussed her romantic history and revealed that her engagement to former bandmate Justin Long was not the first time she had planned to marry. This is also my second engagement that I called off, the first one,” she told Cooper.
Jackson acknowledged that the circumstances surrounding the earlier proposal were complicated because both she and her former partner were using drugs.
“I don’t know if you could count the first one; it was real to me, even though we were strung out on drugs, and the ring was one that he bought with my money without me knowing; it was still like, the love was so real for me in that first one,” she shared. “So this was like, ‘ah, this is the second one.’”
Jackson did not identify the person involved in that first engagement. Her relationship with Long lasted approximately three years before they separated last year, months after he proposed at a theater.
The Singer Explains Why She Ended Her Relationship
Jackson admitted there were moments when she considered remaining with Long in hopes that their relationship would eventually improve. However, she said the people closest to her encouraged her to evaluate why she wanted to stay.
“I’m the person that needs to be sure,” Jackson explained. “Even though I have a therapist, like a clinical psychologist, a coach, I have, you know, I have got a whole council of people, friends that know a lot about relationships and all the things that I was going through in life at the time that are like, ‘honey,’ in asking me the right questions of like, ‘why would you stay?’ And my answers weren’t good enough.”
The singer eventually accepted that someone could possess positive qualities without being the right partner for her. “Just because I’ve realized just because someone is a good person doesn’t mean they’re my person,” she said. “And I have to be happy. I realized that my non-negotiables are allowed to be non-negotiables, and if these big major needs are not being met, it doesn’t matter that you’re a good person and you’re not going to cheat on me. That’s not a reason to stay.”
Paris Jackson Still Believes A Loyal Partner Exists
Jackson said the dating culture around her may have influenced her tendency to place too much value on basic loyalty within a relationship. “I live in a city where loyalty is not the biggest thing, so sometimes I maybe get it in my head that that’s how most people are,” she shared.
Her perspective began to change after looking at the healthy relationships maintained by men she knows personally. “I have some of the most incredible men in my life that love their wives, that love their kids, that are just such stand-up dudes that would never dream of f-cking that up,” Jackson said.
“So I know that that exists out there,” she continued. “I can examine the evidence and be like, okay, it does exist. This isn’t the one and only person that’s not going to do that to me.”
Spending time alone following the broken engagement has also helped Jackson reconsider what she is willing to accept from a future partner. “I can be a little bit pickier,” she concluded. “The bar can be raised a bit because it’s historically been very low.”
