{"id":544856,"date":"2026-06-20T07:42:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T07:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/544856\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T07:42:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T07:42:34","slug":"the-scripts-danny-odonoghue-admits-chaotic-visit-to-dublin-left-him-at-rock-bottom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/544856\/","title":{"rendered":"The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue admits chaotic visit to Dublin left him at rock bottom"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue has opened up about his battle with addiction and how he hit rock bottom during a Dublin Christmas following the death of his bandmate Mark Sheehan<\/p>\n

09:53, 18 Jun 2026Updated 10:01, 18 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

\"Danny<\/p>\n

Danny O’Donoghue opened up about grief and addiction(Image: On The Mend with Matt Willis\/Youtube)<\/p>\n

The Script frontman Danny O’Donoghue<\/a> has bravely opened up about reaching his lowest point in Dublin<\/a>, revealing he spent one Christmas<\/a> in an intoxicated state while mourning the loss of his beloved bandmate.<\/p>\n

Danny sat down with Busted’s Matt Willis to discuss his battle with addiction, and how he made the life-changing decision to give up alcohol and drugs following a drink-fuelled few days in Ireland two-and-a-half years ago.<\/p>\n

His bandmate Mark Sheehan passed away in April 2023 following a short illness. The founding Script<\/a> member was 46-years-old, and Danny had known him since the age of 13.<\/p>\n

Fully aware that losing his closest friend would devastate him, Danny reached out to a therapist. Yet in those early sessions, he would attempt to deceive the professional, concealing the true extent of his drinking and the damage he was inflicting upon himself at weekends.<\/p>\n

This ultimately led to his darkest moment, which he candidly shared on the podcast On The Mend with Matt Willis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Danny<\/p>\n

Danny O’Donoghue and Mark Sheehan(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

He recalled: “I went back home for Christmas, right, in Ireland. By the way, this is all the caveat of like, I’m in an Irish band, everywhere you go, Irish bars, we’re known for fighting and drinking. I did both of them at both stages.”<\/p>\n

He continued: “So I went back to Ireland, and it was my first time home, being around Christmas in Dublin without Mark. And I was like, I’ve got to do this sober. I can’t face this anymore. I got to do this sober.<\/p>\n

“So I jumped on a plane. And by the time I’d landed, I was p***ed. And I’d already speed dialed. You know what I mean? I was already like, let’s go, let’s sort it out.<\/p>\n

“And then I spent the whole Christmas basically f***ed.”<\/p>\n

Danny, who now reportedly calls London home, tied the knot with Anais Naing in a romantic UK ceremony last year.<\/p>\n

Opening up about his calamitous Christmas back in Ireland, he revealed he cut his trip short, departing on December 27 despite having originally intended to ring in the New Year there.<\/p>\n

\"Danny<\/p>\n

His black eye came from a boxing spar before he went on the podcast(Image: On The Mend with Matt Willis\/Youtube)<\/p>\n

He said: “I touched down and I felt so bad and so horrendous that I was like, that’s it. Enough is enough. I cannot continue on like this. I’m not doing me any favours. I’m not doing his memory any favours. You know, my family, my relationships with people were suffering over my selfishness.<\/p>\n

“So I just absolutely cold turkeyed on that day and I gave up cigarettes, I gave up everything, I gave up everything. Alcohol, weed, all that stuff and just went boom, cold turkey, no more.”<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that the initial weeks proved exceptionally challenging, but credited his recovery to the moment he was completely honest with his therapist in their first session following the Dublin visit, saying the “truth set him free”.<\/p>\n

Ever since, Danny has committed to a rigid daily routine, which sees him put his phone down straight after waking, head out for a morning walk, attend church, and then round off his day with boxing training. Following an early morning mass where he practises gratitude and a boxing session afterwards, he explained he’s perfectly prepared for whatever the day brings.<\/p>\n

\"Danny<\/p>\n

Danny O’Donoghue of the Script performing live at Pinkpop Festival 2018 in Landgraaf, Netherlands(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Now two-and-a-half years sober, his key message to anyone facing difficulties is simple: seek help from a professional.<\/p>\n

Danny revealed that therapy has “changed my life absolutely” – while his band prepares to drop their latest album, The User’s Guide To Being Human.<\/p>\n

The Script are heading out on tour later this year, with two gigs lined up at the 3Arena in October and another at the SSE Arena in Belfast the month after.<\/p>\n

They’re also supporting country star Luke Combs at Slane Castle next month, before joining Take That for summer dates across the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue has opened up about his battle with addiction and how he hit rock bottom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[217574,18,117,19,17,50344],"class_list":["post-544856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-danny-odonoghue","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-the-script"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116781315500459491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}