Nikki McKibbin Doesn’t Blame Simon Cowell for Her Drug Addiction, But He Sure As Hell Didn’t Help

In a new interview with Us Weekly, Nikki McKibbin — who’s on the upcoming season of Celebrity Rehab — talks about the role Simon Cowell played in her downward spiral.

“I came out of Idol with a lack of self-confidence,” she says. “I think I had my first solo in school when I was 5, and I got more as I got older: That’s the biggest compliment in choir. I had never been told I wasn’t good enough. Having to hear it for so many weeks from Simon Cowell killed me inside. I couldn’t get the shit he had said to me out of my head … It drove me deeper into my depression. I wouldn’t say that this was Simon’s fault. It just added to the addict that I already was.”

She also talks about drinking while on AmIdol: “We were heavily chaperoned, but I would buy vodka and sneak it into the refrigerator on the bottom floor,” she says. “If I wasn’t too exhausted, I’d have one or two drinks.”

Nikki claims she’s still sober, and I do have to give her props for not being all like “This is American Idol’s fault!” She’s owning up to her own addictions, and I respect that way more than all of the celebs who want to blame their drug and alcohol problems on something else.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Nikki McKibbin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.