Pete Doherty’s transformation from gaunt heroin addict to healthy dad who loves ice baths… and mega breakfast challenges

THROUGHOUT the Noughties, Pete Doherty’s love of hard partying and even harder drugs left fans fearing he might never reach 30.

The 44-year-old rocker himself even recently admitted he was “surprised he was not dead”.

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Pete Doherty sits down with Louis Theroux tonight in a raw interview on BBC TwoCredit: PA

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The star looks healthier now than in his gaunt heydayCredit: Getty

But through successive stints in rehab, The Libertines singer was able to conquer his £200-a-day addiction to heroin and crack, and has reportedly been clean for three years.

These days, happily married dad-of-three Pete is practically unrecognisable from the gaunt figure who rose to further fame through his relationship with the supermodel Kate Moss.

Donning a flat cap and moustache, the ex-Babyshambles frontman – who last week released a documentary about his addiction and will share a couch with Louis Theroux on BBC Two tonight – has a fuller, healthier figure than in his wilder heyday.

In September, he was pictured on an outing with his baby daughter Billie-May, who he shares with his wife Katia de Vidas. He has an older son and daughter from two other women.

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The setting for tonight’s raw interview with Theroux is at the musician’s home in France, where he has settled down with his family.

Doherty moved there around 2020 to escape the vices of his former days, swapping it with the peaceful bucolic lifestyle of Normandy.

However, the quintessential French region is littered with irresistible fromargeries and is where the rockstar famously “swapped crack for Camembert”.

Explaining he woke most mornings to “Comté on toast”, Doherty told the Guardian it was a shameful new ‘addiction’.

Swapping crack for Camembert

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At the peak of his career, the wild rocker dated model Kate MossCredit: Getty

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He kicked the heroin for a life in FranceCredit: Splash

He said: “It’s a bit embarrassing, isn’t it?

“But, yeah, the cheese, man.

“The cheese in this area – the brie, the camembert. There’s something special in the grass, you can taste it in the milk, it’s different here, it’s so creamy. I drink it by the pint. And the butter, and the bread, and the saucisson.”

The Sun’s exclusive pictures in March 2021 showed Pete looking rosy-cheeked on a dog walk, thriving from the slower pace of lockdown life.

A source close to him said: “While lockdown has been tough for so many people, Pete is honestly the happiest he’s ever been.

He told us the same month: “For years and years, I would stay up for five or six days and then I would sleep for 24 hours, so now I love sleep.

“At the moment I’m quite clean. I stopped taking heroin and ketamine.

“I like experimenting, making cocktails with champagne, a bit of rum, orange juice, I’m coming across like a bit of an alcoholic, but I’m not — I like a nice glass of water.”

At the time, Pete also admitted he craved fast food but there were no takeaway shops nearby to satisfy his cravings.

He added: “I’d have a Big Mac if I could, but I can’t. The nearest McDonald’s is 40 minutes away.”

Big breakfast

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Pete impressed fans by completing an epic 8,000-calorie breakfast challengeCredit: Instagram

In 2018, Doherty left passers-by shocked when he was spotted wolfing down an epic breakfast challenge.

Pete was seen devouring a huge 8,000-calorie meal at the Dalby Cafe in Margate, which he “smashed” in less than 20 minutes.

It was, nonetheless, a welcome change from his previous diet of booze and heroin, which led to an almost fatal battle with addiction in his early twenties that lasted around 15 years.

Desperate for a daily hit, the singer revealed he was locked in a cycle of irrational behaviour – including getting his earlobes bitten off at the pub during one particular nadir.

Doherty joked to The Observer that he’s “got chunks missing all over the place”.

He said: “Someone bit off part of my other earlobe in a pub in Stoke.

“I think he just wanted a souvenir.

‘I’m surprised I’m not dead. I’m blessed to be alive, not sat in a hedge, injecting into my groin.”

At the height of Doherty’s drug problems he dated model Kate Moss, who he met in January 2005 at her 31st birthday party.

He notably drew a picture of them together – which sold for £5,000 – using his own blood.

But as his addiction got progressively worse, he lost his lover as a result, and nearly his limbs.

He told the Mirror: “I was really pushing the limits.

“There were a few close calls really. I nearly lost my feet and horrible things like that.

“It was very close, just because of the injecting. That’s what happens when you run out of veins. It all seems so long ago now, though, but it was a hell of a ride.”

Kate famously went on to marry The Kills star Jamie Hince.

Ice baths aid recovery

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Doherty said taking ice baths help him get through lifeCredit: Instagram

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The Libertines frontman was pictured at an exhibition in Germany this year, looking healthierCredit: Getty

According to Doherty, ice baths have been his saving grace.

The former hell-raiser star shared a video on Instagram earlier this year of his new pre-show ritual before taking to the stage in Birmingham.

Footage showed him getting into the bath and completing breathing and relaxation exercises with the help of experts.

He added: “You find that you’re able to get through life without all the crack and heroin and all the chaos that comes from that world.

“Although I didn’t ever think it was possible for a while.

“I used to quite enjoy the chaos you see because I used to get quite a bit of inspiration from it. 

“But it tends to be now that I’m usually more inspired when I’m in a calmer, reflective state of mind these days. 

“I’m lucky to have come through it in one piece… well pretty much in one piece.”

Last month, The Libertines returned to the spotlight with a new single called Run, Run, Run.

The band also confirmed their new record ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ will be released next year.

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Doherty with wife Katia de Vidas and their baby daughter Billie-MayCredit: Rex

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Doherty taking a stroll in France in 2021Credit: Splash