Macklemore: 'I struggle on tour without Alcoholics Anonymous'

Chart-topping rapper Macklemore struggles to maintain his sobriety on the road because he doesn't have time to attend Alcohol Anonymous meetings in between gigs and promotional appearances.

The Thrift Shop hitmaker, real name Ben Haggerty, has been sober since the summer of 2008, but he knows how easy it is to slip back to his old habits without the support from fellow recovering alcoholics.

He tells Rolling Stone magazine, "It's been a struggle the past year. It's very important to go into the rooms of AA, smell the s**ty coffee and be reminded that without sobriety, I would have no career."

In fact he took reporter Simon Vozick-Levinson to an AA meeting as part of his Rolling Stone expose, telling him, "Those (fellow recovering alcoholics) are my peers. I see myself in them. I walked in and a dude was talking and immediately I was like, 'I know exactly what the f**k you're talking about.' I'm reminded of why I can't get f**ked up. And the only way to feel that is to actually work the program."

Macklemore admits he has had a couple of minor slips since 2008, revealing, "I f**ked up a couple of times... but I started working with a sponsor and got a lot healthier. It's been four and a half hour years since I've drunk alcohol, four and a half years since I've smoked weed, four and a half years since I've done cocaine."