Rock icon Alice Cooper has long had a side that the public may not know about: a devout Christian side.
It’s not that Cooper is shy about it. In fact, he credits his faith from saving him at a point when alcoholism was almost killing him. In an interview with the New York Daily News‘ Confidential, Cooper recalls a harrowing time when he woke up throwing up blood. He realized that something had to change or he wasn’t going to be long for this world, and that is when he turned back to God.
My wife and I are both Christian,” the 70-year-old said. “My father was a pastor, my grandfather was an evangelist. I grew up in the church, went as far away as I could from it — almost died — and then came back to the church.”
Cooper acknowledges that some may feel that the rock star image and that of a good Christian are a bit incongruous:
There’s nothing in Christianity that says I can’t be a rock star,” he continued. “People have a very warped view of Christianity. They think it’s all very precise and we never do wrong and we’re praying all day and we’re right-wing. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with a one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ.
Offstage, Cooper is almost the antithesis of a stereotypical rocker. He is a regular churchgoer, and told the interviewer that he makes time for daily Bible study. In addition to being Christian, he is also an avid –and good– golfer (something he also gives credit to for helping him stay sober).
One of the things that this surprising man of faith is most proud of is the fact that he and his wife of over four decades have remained faithful to each other.
Clean living and marital bliss may not make for good reality television, but Cooper is still going strong as a performer after fifty years.
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