Matt Willis Explores Addiction and Recovery in New Series
Musician Matt Willis has announced a new three-part documentary series focusing on addiction and recovery, aiming to address the stigma faced by individuals recovering from addiction when re-entering the workforce.
The Busted star, who has been candid about his own struggles with addiction, plans to establish a business in south Wales that will employ people at various stages of addiction recovery.
With a camera crew documenting the entire process, Willis initially believed that the presence of television coverage would facilitate easier access to funding for the project. However, he acknowledged that this expectation was not met.
Instead, Willis turned to the band McFly, whom he described as once being his band's rivals during the early 2000s pop scene. He praised them for their generosity in agreeing to perform a one-off fundraiser concert.
"I literally phoned up McFly and was like, 'Guys, will you? I know this is a big ask, but will you come and play a show for free for me in Cardiff?' They're an arena-selling band and they're playing a 2000 [capacity] venue for me for free, which is epic."
Personal Journey and Sobriety
Willis has been to rehab four times and has maintained sobriety for nearly nine years, a milestone he describes as a "miracle."
"I never thought I would be completely clean and sober, but I am,"he told BBC Wales.
During filming in 2023, Willis identified the lack of funding and resources for addiction recovery programs as a significant issue, referring to it as the "elephant in the room."
Three years later, he is confronting the stigma surrounding addiction, noting that drug-related deaths are worsening at an alarming rate.
The Recovery Project Documentary
In the documentary titled Matt Willis: The Recovery Project, Willis develops a program designed to assist people in recovery to rebuild their lives through employment and community support.
"The thing that I found really shocking was the stigma that addicts face getting back into the workplace, which was something which I never thought about,"he explained.
"And the more people I met, if you have a history of addiction and you've got big gaps in your CV, or maybe you've not ever had a job, the barrier to getting into the workplace was huge."
Challenges in Funding
Willis revealed that securing funding for the project has been challenging.
"We've been trying to fundraise for a long time and it has been hard,"he said, adding,
"I thought doing the project with TV cameras would open way more doors... but that wasn't the case."
"I think there's still a stigma around addiction,"he continued, noting the difficulties in gaining support for the initiative.
Fundraising Through Music
Due to the illness of guitarist James Bourne, Willis was unable to organize a Busted performance to raise funds. Instead, he reached out to McFly for assistance.
"I literally phoned up McFly and was like, 'Guys, will you? I know this is a big ask, but will you come and play a show for free for me in Cardiff?'"
"They're an arena-selling band and they're playing a 2000 [capacity] venue for me for free, which is epic."
Willis shared on Instagram that he might join McFly on stage during their performance in Cardiff on 22 March.
Project Vision and Goals
While Willis could not disclose many details about the project featured in the documentary, he described it as "really bold" and expressed his hope for it to become a UK-wide initiative.
"We have an initiative to try and get people back into the workplace – we are going to be running a business and employing people in recovery within that business. Everyone that works there will be in recovery at different stages,"he said.
"The reason we're doing it on telly is we want to kind of break that stigma down,"Willis added.
"Addiction happens to you, in my case, it's in me, and I think there are lots of people out there that just aren't given these opportunities or don't know where to go for help. I think that's exactly what this can do,"he concluded.
