Smokey Robinson on how religion saved him from cocaine addiction: 'I walked in that church an addict, and I came out free'

The veteran Motown singer says a spontaneous trip to church helped him overcome his habit

Smokey Robinson says that God ended his battle with cocaine.

He was 41 when he started taking the drug, following the success of single “Being With You”.

One evening a friend took him took him to a local Los Angeles church where a pastor prayed for him.

“And she told me that God had told her I was coming,” Robinson recalled. “And she told me all the things that were happening to me, physically and emotionally and mentally – which I shared with no on one earth!”

“No one knew. She told me every one of ’em that night. She said God had showed her what was going on.

“And I walked in that church an addict, and I came out free. May of 1986. Never looked back.”

He says that his habit emerged later in life because he had always been “protected” by his friends and colleagues. Having smoked “a whole lot of weed” when he was younger, Robinson thought that he was immune to the perils of addiction.

“I thought that it couldn’t happen to me. That’s the cunning of drugs,” he told The Telegraph. “I could never become addicted! I love sports, and I run, and I take care of myself. I can overcome this.’

“But when I started dibbling and dabbling on the cocaine, that was a whole other animal. And I never thought I could become an addict. But I did.”