Rapper Macklemore admits he suffered a drug relapse last year by smoking marijuana and taking sleeping pills as a way to deal with fame

Published: 18:29 EST, 28 July 2015 | Updated: 18:54 EST, 28 July 2015

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Macklemore has revealed he suffered a drug relapse last year.

The 32-year-old rapper, who battled addiction when he was younger, admitted he started taking pills and smoking weed again while working on new music with collaborator Ryan Lewis due to the 'pressure' of fame.

'I held it together for a while,' the Thrift Shop hitmaker said in an interview with Complex Magazine. 'But, eventually, I stopped going to my 12-step meetings.'

Off the wagon: Macklemore, seen here in January, has revealed to the new issue of Complex that he suffered a drug relapse last year

'I was burnt out. I was super-stressed. We weren't sleeping - doing a show every day, zigzagging all over the country.'

'The pressure and the fame - everything. All the clichés, man - like not being able to walk around, having no privacy, and from this TV appearance to this TV appearance, and the criticism, and the lack of connection, and the lack of meetings -- all of that put into one pie was just...I just wanted to escape.'

The rapper, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, told the magazine that he still feels like a kid, rather than a grown-up.

Addict: The 32-year-old, who battled addiction when he was younger, admitted to Complex Magazine that he started taking pills and smoking weed again due to the 'pressure' of fame

Too much: The rapper said that after the massive success that came after Thrift Shop, said after his success he was burnt out, super-stressed, wasn't sleeping and doing a show every day

Ellen celebrates the success of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

'I feel like I'm the 15-year-old kid down the street, trying to escape, get out of class, smoke weed in the street, and kick it. And that's a version of myself that I don't feel that far removed from.'

He added that 'everyone knew, but they didn't necessarily know' about his problem; he said his fiancee Tricia Davis even found sleeping pills in his shoe while they were at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in March of last year.

The Grammy winner kept telling himself he would stop, but perpetually moved the deadline: 'You know, like, Monday, I'ma stop…. OK. Tuesday, I'ma stop…. OK, f**k it, I might as well go on to the weekend. Sunday, I'm done. But after this bag of weed…,

Minutes taken, hours lost: The Heist star, pictured with collaborator Ryan Lewis in Las Vegas in January, said he even started to go to meetings high

He said he became so 'sneaky' and 'deceitful' that he even went to important meetings while high.

'I'm in meetings with management with sunglasses on and I'm rolling around like a 15-year-old trying not to get caught smoking weed in my car,' he said. 'Straight up, driving all around here, like I was 15 years ago. Same **t. I felt so dumb. I felt like I'm just wasting time. What am I escaping here?'

However he finally decided to get sober in September when Davis discovered she was expecting their first child.

'I've been trying to grow up this year,' he said. 'Since I heard that Tricia was pregnant, I was like, "I need to grow up right now".

'The sobriety was the wake-up call that I needed. My work ethic turns off-to-on in a second and I get happy again. I get grateful again.'