Alex Warren details mom’s drug addiction, shot by Jay Shetty

No wonder Alex Warren’s As he sang in his hit song “Ordinary,” life currently has him “kissing the ground,” considering everything he’s been through so far to get to this point.

Appearing on Friday, December 19th, An episode of “The Jay Shetty Podcast” The 25-year-old singer opened up about his tumultuous past.

From watching his father battle and eventually die from cancer at age 9 to growing up with an alcoholic mother in an abusive home, Warren faced difficult circumstances at an early age.

Growing up, Warren faced other challenges, such as homelessness and nearly being killed when he was accidentally shot by a friend’s father while living out of his car — all of which, Warren says, shaped him “who I am and what I know.”

Keep scrolling to see every eye-opening detail Warren revealed about his growing up and personal life on the podcast.

Witnessed his father’s death when he was 9 years old

Warren’s father later died a cancer battle When the “Before You Leave Me” singer was just a kid.

In an interview with Shetty, Warren shared what it was like to witness his father’s death and the profound impact it had on him.

“He had cancer four times, I mean the whole time I was born, but he beat it three times and the fourth time he got cancer and he died when I was 9. So I probably remember from 5 o’clock to 9 o’clock,” he said.

Warren added that there were some lighter moments at the end and recalled joking with his father when he was heavily medicated.

“I remember the night before my last conversation with him, he was on drugs and I was messing with him. I was like. ‘Dad, are you going to buy me a Ferrari?’ And he said ‘yes’ to everything,” Warren said.

The singer added: “It was weird thinking about it at the time, it was kind of like, that was my goodbye. I was kind of kidding him. All I know is, you know, he was kidding us when he died.”

Warren added that it was difficult for him to come to terms with his father’s death at the time, even though he knew he was dead.

“It was pretty hard to really come to terms with it. It took a few years to even process the reality of the situation. Like I don’t think my brain was able to do that at 9 years old,” he explained.

He continued, “I remember when he died, I was doing the typical wake-up call of him dying in front of me. Well, I think it was just me trying to say, ‘Stop joking.'” I was nine years old, but I knew he was dead, but I certainly didn’t understand what that meant. That’s it, for the whole 20 minutes… I was slapping him. I rocked him, begging him to wake up. “

Growing up with an alcoholic mom

Warren also detailed his “toxic” relationship with his mother, who struggled with alcohol addiction until her death in 2021.

“I grew up in an abusive home,” Warren admits. “My mom would sleep during the day and stay up late at night. So she would get drunk at 5:00 in the morning and drive us to school at 6:00 or 7:00. She would go to bed when she got home. She hasn’t worked since my dad died.”

Warren claimed he was one of the only people who would accuse his mother of drinking and threatened to call the police if she got drunk, adding that he had “a lot of conflicts” with his mother as a result.

“I would wake up and find out what alcohol she had hidden, and I would throw it away. I don’t know if I was being petty about it or if I really wanted to see her quit, you know, but every addict needs an attorney,” he said. “They need someone to blame, but not themselves. Or at least that’s what I think.”

He added, “I was the one who made it difficult for her to get addicted because I didn’t want to see it again.”

Warren went on to describe the dynamic as “really, really toxic” and accused his mom of being “abusive.”

“She was very rough. One time she elbowed me in the face so hard that I now have a deviated septum,” he added.

homeless as a teenager

Tensions at home eventually reached a breaking point, and Warren’s mother eventually kicked him out of the house after a physical altercation.

Speaking about his experience of homelessness as a teenager, Warren claimed he was “lucky” because he slept in his car rather than on the street.

“I would sleep in my car. My friends would sneak into their houses and I would sleep on their floor, hiding, hoping no one walked in,” he explained. “There were only a few nights where I really slept, like on the road, maybe two nights.”

Shot to death by friend’s father

In another dramatic incident, Warren shared the story of being shot and killed by a friend’s father while he was homeless.

“I was sleeping in the car, and then my friend’s dad shot me with a 177, which was like a BB gun. It was like… you know, you use it to hunt deer or rabbits or whatever, and the shape of it was supposed to do just as much damage to the animal,” Warren recalled. “It was an accident. He didn’t mean it or he didn’t understand the scope of it.”

Warren went on to explain how he was shot and that he was rushed to the hospital in great pain.

“He nailed my liver to it and it rose up. It was just centimeters from my heart and today it’s lodged in my lungs. It’s still there today,” he said

Warren added, “I remember it was probably the worst pain I’d ever experienced in my life, just feeling like a bullet burn or a bullet. Technically, it was a bullet burning in my body. That was hard. That was bad.”

The singer later forgave her friend’s dad for his “mistake” and revealed the man ended up officiating his wedding to his wife Coover Annon 2024.

Experiencing sibling alienation

Warren said he and his siblings were estranged as adults because of their upbringings, and then parted ways as adults.

“My mom was an alcoholic and she wasn’t there. So I realized that I was raising myself and had to, you know, all of us, me and my siblings, be raising each other,” he said.
“It wasn’t normal for us to realize for a long time. We’re struggling with it today. I think it’s hard for us to have a normal sibling relationship because we’re so busy raising each other.”

However, Warren added that they are now closer and working to strengthen their family bond.