Go-Go's Singer Belinda Carlisle: "I Should Look Like S--t or I Should Be Dead"

Frontwoman of the iconic all-girl group opens about her drug problems in new memoir

By Marc Malkin Jun 01, 2010 11:00 PMTags
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Belinda Carlisle may have been the smiling lead singer of the iconic '80s all-girl group the Go-Go's, but behind the scenes she was a complete mess.

"I should look like s--t or I should be dead," Carlisle tells me on the phone from New York City.

Read on to find out why…

In her new memoir, Lips Unsealed, Carlisle recounts in very graphic detail a life that seemed to be about one alcohol and drug binge after another. Now 53 and sober for five years, she splits her time between the States and the south of France with her husband of 24 years Morgan Mason and their son James, 18.

You really put yourself out there in the book. Why did you decide to be so open?
It's the G-version. If I really put everything in there I would get my own reality show in 30 seconds and be the biggest freak in the world. Some things are just so out there and so surreal that people probably wouldn't believe it anyway.

But do you have any regrets?
The only regret I have is not being the mother that I should have been. But I'd like to think that I made up for some of that in the past five years.

When you think back to the beginning of the Go-Go's, what do you remember most?
It was an incredible experience. People don't realize that the Go-Go's weren't put together by a Svengali. We did everything ourselves. We had no idea how to play our instruments, no idea how to plug guitars into amplifiers, no idea how to write. We were self-taught.

This summer is the Go-Go's last tour together. Why now?
Everybody has different ideas about when the band should end or should have ended or should they end. For myself, I think it's perfect because my life isn't really in the States anymore…And to be honest, I just want to enjoy the fruits of my labor now and just have a good time and not slug it out on the road. I'm just not interested in that anymore.

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