She tells Guitar World: "I would express my concern and he would back off for a few months, but then he would go right back. I did notice that Jeff was relying on alcohol to start his day off � but I couldn't say very much because I knew we'd wind up in a verbal confrontation.

"I did drink with him, sometimes quite heavily; I figured if I couldn't beat him, join him. But eventually I realised I couldn't go on like that, and if I stopped, I might be able to get him away from it too.

"But I couldn't. He just relied on it too much to get him through the day."