AceShowbiz -

Following the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, some people started to open up about their battle with addiction. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, February 4, Cher's son with Gregg Allman, Elijah Blue Allman, talked about his past experience with drugs, saying that he started using them when he was only 11 years old.

"I started with drugs around the same time that we all did, around 11. I mean it's just what you did, it's just what everybody did," the 37-year-old guitarist said. At that time, he took marijuana and ecstasy before later moving to heroin and stronger drugs. "I [was] just looking to escape all the things in my past and, that's when you turn to those kind of drugs, you know heroin and opiates."

"[Heroin] kind of saved me ... If I didn't have that at that point, I don't know what I would have done ... You may jump off a bridge. If you can only just go through that time period and live through it and then get help," Elijah explained.

The musician thankfully was able to get back on track and has been sober since 2008. "I did have some close calls and some moments of really feeling at the edge of mortality. I always kind of kept it a little bit safe, but you never can do that. Even though you think that in your mind, of course the wrong things can happen," he said of being overdose.

Elijah later took to Twitter to clarify his statement about being saved by heroin, writing, "In the way that people say 'cancer saved me' or 'losing my sight helped me see.' It can take something malevolent to self-improve." He added, "People we've all lost along the way have been devastating ...I'm an enormous appreciator of Phil Hoffman's talent."