Alexander Rybak is a two-time Eurovision entrant from Norway. In his first attempt in 2009 he won the Contest in Moscow with “Fairytale”, with, at the time, record number of points. In his second attempt in 2018 he won his semi final with “That’s How You Write A Song” but finished in 15th place in the Grand Final. Now, he opened up on his social media pages about his secret he has been keeping for 11 years, considering his mental health issues.

I’ve been living with a secret. For 11 years I have been addicted to sleep medications and antidepressants. It started out harmless, but in the end it almost ruined my life.
This January I started rehab (with good help from my doctors) and little by little I’m starting to feel like myself again.
During the past years the pills made me weak and scared. It affected not only my brain but also my muscles and stomach. It destroyed my relationships to people, but most importantly it almost destroyed my will to live.
I know there are many out there who are struggling with the same problems, so over the next weeks I will be sharing my experiences with you and if somebody can learn from them, it will make me feel better.