Belinda Carlisle success in some ways." During the initial stages of her tenure with the Go-Go's, Carlisle developed a serious addiction to cocaine and alcohol that would span thirty years. Simultaneously, she had also developed an eating disorder, which she said stemmed from media comments regarding her appearance; Carlisle's excessive cocaine use helped keep her weight down. Additionally, Carlisle admitted to using LSD, quaaludes, and MDA regularly as both a teenager and adult. In a 2017 interview, she told "The Guardian" that she "couldn't believe she wasn't dead." After a three-day-long cocaine binge in 2005, Carlisle says she looked at herself in
Belinda Carlisle from Simi Valley to Reseda, before settling in Burbank when Carlisle was seven years old. At age ten, Carlisle began to express interest in music, and recalled the Beach Boys, Cat Stevens, the Stylistics, and the Animals as being early musical influences. The family relocated again during Carlisle's adolescence, this time to Thousand Oaks, California; she attended Colina Junior High School in Thousand Oaks, and later Newbury Park High School, where she was a cheerleader. During her teenage years, Carlisle became rebellious: "By the time I hit fourteen, I'd gone really wild," she said. "I ran away from home, smoked