Human Nature star Andrew Tierney reveals secret battle with addiction: 'I have a problem'

Human Nature star Andrew Tierney has revealed that he is still struggling with alcohol, nearly ten years after he tried to quit drinking.

The 51-year-old father-of-one admitted on the latest episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast that he 'fell off the wagon' while touring in Australia five years ago.

Andrew smuggled a bottle of vodka backstage, which led to an embarrassing confrontation with his brother and bandmate Mike Tierney.

'I saw Mike after the show, and he had this ashen face on him,' Andrew recalled, adding that he thought he had hidden the alcohol, forbidden by the group, 'really well'.

'He came up, and he goes, "What's that bottle in your bag?" It was like... I can't explain it because it was like, it's so stupid, so childish. And so just immature to be hiding drinks.'

Explaining that he had 'gone sober' eight years ago, the showbiz veteran, who is based in Las Vegas, admitted that he has not had a 'clean run' with his decision to quit booze.

'You know, I still struggle...[as] someone who likes to still get a buzz,' he said.

Asked by host Jonathan Mohan whether he considered himself an alcoholic, Andrew said, 'I guess I am. I have a problem with it.'

He explained that if he took a drink, he could not stop at just one. 'I kind of want seven,' he said.

Andrew said that since his lapse backstage five years ago, he has drunk occasionally.

'Yeah, I've had a glass of something. Never gotten ruined, but it's just, not for a while now though,' he said.  

The performer made headlines in 2018 when he discussed his alcohol issues in detail.

Speaking candidly to The Daily Telegraph at the time, Andrew said alcohol initially helped to ease his performance anxiety.

But it led to a full-blown drinking problem that spiralled out of control.

'It just crept up on me. It started out of performance anxiety onstage, a note I couldn't get one night. And my drinking got out of hand. I just wasn't being the person I wanted to be,' he said.

He had previously told the publication that he was drinking vodka straight and 'lying' to his wife Heather about his struggles. 

'I got to this low point where I had to stop,' he added.

Formed in 1989 by The Tierney brothers and bandmates Toby Allen and Phil Burton, Human Nature went on to become one of Australia's biggest acts of the 1990s.

The group's 1996 debut album Telling Everybody was a huge hit, earning them triple platinum status.

The band became a Las Vegas fixture in the late 2000s, doing residencies at hotels like the Venetian and Imperial Palace.

They were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2019 and went on to release 12 albums together.

Andrew tied the knot with his sweetheart, Heather, in 1999, and the couple share a daughter, Violette, who was born in 2016.