Gladys Knight discusses beating her Gambling Addiction

Excerpts from:

The Sunday Conversation: Gladys Knight
The 'Empress of Soul' discusses .... beating a gambling addiction.


I read that many years ago you kicked a gambling addiction. Does that make living in Las Vegas where you can't go to the laundromat without hearing bells a challenge?

I don't hear them anymore. I really don't. I feel so blessed. And I always have to bring this element into whatever I do. I have a faith that's unbendable as far as my Lord and Savior is concerned. I try to go in the way I'm supposed to go, and if I fall short, I ask for help. I got into gambling when I was playing a casino. I was a hermit in those days. I would go onstage, go to my room, or if we had to travel, I'd get in a car or a plane, whatever. But I didn't do anything. One day, this friend of mine said, "Do you want to play some blackjack?" So I started playing, and I enjoyed it. I started spending my time doing that. And you're talking about a dollar table. And I remember when I graduated up to $20. And when my kids got in college — I'm telling you the real deal — I had gone through a nasty divorce, I spent over a million dollars looking for my son after he got kidnapped. And I was broke.

When was that?

Thirty years ago because he's 33 now.

And how long was he gone?

Five or six months.

How did you get him back?

Well, let me see. Can I tell that? Let's just say it was a covert operation. But I spent a whole lot of money doing it. All of it, as a matter of fact. But I didn't care. It was my baby. I was broke and yes, I had to go to work double-time, but it was OK with me.

When they got to college, it was really hard for me, so if they called me for something — like, "I need books" — I would play, and I would win. And you should never win. Winning is how they get you. Because you think you'll win everything, and you won't. And I just woke up one day and said this don't make no sense. I had gotten $2,000. And within 25, 30 minutes, I had won 60 grand. And I sat right at that table and gave every dime of it back. And I just got sick at the table. And I got up, went to the phone and called Gamblers Anonymous. And the lady on the phone said, "Where are you? We'll come get you." That was about 15, 20 years ago. And I went to one meeting. That was all I had to go to.