Christine McVie had a reputation for being the most grounded member in the storm of decadence that was Fleetwood Mac. Still, she wasn’t immune to the hard-partying and drama that the band was known for. She described the most excessive thing she’s ever done and why she quickly realized that she shouldn’t do it again.

Christine McVie was considered the most level-headed member of Fleetwood Mac

Despite the long nights of partying that became a regular part of her lifestyle, McVie said she never did anything overly outrageous.

“We all drank a lot and did a lot of cocaine, we partied a lot, I don’t think I did anything terribly outrageous,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “Except I once threw a cake out the window which landed on top of taxi. I was kind of the good girl in the group. That’s who I was. Stevie used to call me Mother Earth because I was always pretty grounded.”

According to Stevie Nicks, McVie could diffuse potential arguments with Lindsey Buckingham.

“Christine was like my mentor, and the only person who could buffer Lindsey,” Nicks told Billboard. “She could totally soothe him and calm him down, and that was great, because I wasn’t good at that.”

She shared the most excessive thing she’s ever done

McVie shared that while she was more levelheaded than her bandmates, she still indulged in behavior that she wouldn’t do today. She said that drug use was very normalized in the 1970s and 1980s.

“It was the norm. Everybody walked around with these beautiful silver cocaine holders as jewelry round their neck, or a beautiful coke spoon with a turquoise or an opal in it,” she said, per the book Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters. “It was fashionable to wear drug-related jewelry. Everybody did it. It wasn’t abnormal. When we were recording Rumours, the girl behind reception would go into the kitchen and cook up a mountain of hash brownies, which got liberally passed around.”

She reflected on the most “excessive” thing she did during this time period.

“It would have to be staying up for three days with the white powder, liberally washed down by Dom Pérignon. I almost had a heart attack and soon stopped that idea,” she said, adding, “I thought, This is for the birds. I can’t be doing this.”

Christine McVie said she’s stopped using drugs and alcohol

In 2004, McVie said that she had stopped using drugs and alcohol.

“I don’t drink. I gave up smoking three months ago, so I chew nicotine gum,” she explained, adding, “I don’t do anything now. I’m really boring. I quit drugs about twenty years ago, the white stuff. I just stopped because I wanted to.”

She said that she’s had the hardest time with quitting smoking.

“I have flirted with not smoking for a few years now and I am going to crack it this time,” she said. “It is the hardest drug of all. I did quit for five years once. Then my second marriage broke down, so I started again immediately. You can’t stop trying.”

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

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