Stephen King's first book, 'Carrie', was released 50 years ago, and the author himself finds it hard to believe that he's still alive to celebrate the milestone. He tweeted, "Tomorrow, CARRIE turns 50. Hard to believe I'm alive to see it."
After the success of 'Carrie' and its film adaptation, Stephen King faced a challenging period due to his addiction, which he later wrote about in the 2013 book 'Doctor Sleep'. His family had intervened to help him in the 1980s.
When Stephen King published 'Carrie' in 1974, he was working as a teacher and writing short stories for men’s magazines in his spare time. The novel was initially meant for Cavalier magazine. He confessed that if he hadn’t published the book, he might not have become an author at all. The Guardian that if he hadn’t published the book he might have never really become an author at all.
Stephen King recalls feeling exhausted from teaching and correcting papers, leaving little time for his own writing. His wife encouraged him to continue working on the story, which eventually led to the success of 'Carrie'.
Doubleday accepted 'Carrie' and offered King an advance of $2,500, and the paperback rights were eventually sold for $500,000. Despite the success, King's struggles with alcohol and drug addiction persisted.
King clarified to Rolling Stone that he noticed his alcohol problem when Maine introduced a law for returning bottles and cans, as he was the only heavy drinker in the household. This realization prompted him to acknowledge his alcohol addiction in the late 1970s.
In the same interview, King revealed that he also began using cocaine around the late 1970s, and his addiction became increasingly difficult to manage.
King admitted to frequently using cocaine while writing, and despite initially concealing his addiction, it began to manifest in his writings. He highlighted that 'Misery' is influenced by his experience with cocaine addiction.
The situation changed for Stephen King when his wife intervened. emptied a garbage bag with “beercans, cigarette butts, cocaine in gram bottles and cocaine in plastic Baggies, coke spoons caked with snot and blood, Valium, Xanax, bottles of Robitussin cough syrup and NyQuil cold medicine, even bottles of mouthwash” from his office and disposed of it in front of the author and his family. After that, she told him he could go to rehab or he could leave the home.
King has been clean ever since.
