Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has explained how David Bowie help him through his drug and alcohol struggles.

Reznor, recalling the time when his band toured with Bowie in 1995, explained how the late icon helped him see the “light at the end of the tunnel.”

In a new interview with the Guardian, Reznor discussed in-depth how his battle with alcohol and drug-taking crept up on him as his band grew in popularity: “I wasn’t the guy who aged 12 had a beer and turned into a werewolf,” he said. “It kind of crept up. I wasn’t prepared for the transformative effect of fame and recognition. Now everyone’s here to see me, and I still feel like I don’t belong there, that I don’t deserve to be there, that I don’t know how to act.

“But I found myself uncomfortable in a scenario where everybody wants to be your friend,” he said. “Having a drink or two was a tool. It did help, for a while, until it started to define who I was. In every scenario, I had to drink, because that was me now.”

Delving deeper yet, Reznor explained how his daily life tasks had become a real battle. When referencing Bowie specifically, he said: “[He] definitely helped,” he commented with careful thought. “Not in a lecturing kind of way, but I saw someone who had come through [addiction], and he was happy and optimistic and remained fearless. I thought: if he can do that, maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”