Pink Floyd guitarist and co-vocalist David Gilmour was told to give up drugs if he wanted to stay with the woman who would become his wife, author Polly Samson.
Gilmour joined the legendary rock band in 1967, two years after it was formed, playing alongside Roger Waters, Syd Barrett, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. Various members left Pink Floyd over the years, with Waters departing in 1985 after an acrimonious split with Gilmour. The pair have remained in a feud ever since.
The guitarist met Samson in the 1980s and they eventually became a couple in 1990, before marrying in 1994. In an interview with The Independent, Gilmour opened up about how he was misusing the "temptations" that came with living a rock 'n' roll lifestyle, meaning cocaine.
"There was a time when I was letting things go, drinking too much, too much cocaine, all those sorts of things. And in my life, that stopped when we [Polly and I] started, pretty much dead on at that time," he told the newspaper in a joint chat with Samson.
She added: "We saved each other's lives."
Gilmour explained that he "was having a difficult time with my pop group, my relationships, all those sorts of things."
"In the early Eighties, I hit a really torturous time; I didn't really notice if I was out of control, but I probably was," he said. "I won't call you a gift, Polly, but something came along into my life that was real, and she wouldn't stand for it [drugs]. I just needed a little kick, really, in order to put it behind me."
Samson "made it clear" that as a single mother his drug use was a "non-negotiable."
"There aren't many women who would have the strength that Polly had to deal with it," Gilmour said.
Samson had given the rocker an ultimatum.
"It really was, 'If you do that again, I am out of here'," she recalled.
Gilmour and Samson made headlines in 2023 when the latter accused Waters of being antisemitic and reigniting their decades-long feud. It was believed to be in response to comments Waters made to the media network Pressenza in 2022 about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Maybe I shouldn't be, but I am now more open to listen [to] what Putin actually says," Waters said.
She wrote on what was known as Twitter in February of that year: "Sadly @rogerwaters you are antisemitic to your rotten core. Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense."
Gilmour retweeted his wife, adding his two cents by writing: "Every word demonstrably true."
The Pink Floyd frontman's team responded to the posts on his own social media pages.
"Roger Waters is aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments made about him on Twitter by Polly Samson which he refutes entirely. He is currently taking advice as to his position," the posts read.
Waters and Gilmour reunited briefly with Pink Floyd in 2005 to perform at the Live 8 benefit concert in Hyde Park, London.
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