Former Maroon 5 Drummer Ryan Dusick Still Got Bad Blood With Band? 'I Lost My Whole Identity'

Ryan Dusick was a founding member and the former drummer of Maroon 5; he was with them for 12 years before he was eventually kicked out.

"I knew that this was how it was going to end and that it was just a matter of time," the musician told People magazine about what led to his exodus from Maroon 5.

"It was just the elephant in the room that we weren't really talking about, and we were going to try to get in the studio and make another album."

Dusick revealed that he was struggling with his mental and physical health during that time, which was brought about by anxiety and burnout due to constant touring and several injuries and chronic nerve damage due to competitive softball when he was a child.

After getting kicked out, Dusick formed an addiction and struggled to find purpose in his life as he watched his childhood friends soar into great heights while he fell back on the ground.

"I was 27, 28 years old when that happened. I had been in the band for 12 years at that point. These were my best friends and people that I had been in such a tight relationship for such a long time and dreaming these big dreams, and we were finally at this moment in our lives when it was all coming to fruition, so it was impossible to really deal with the loss of all of that. It wasn't just losing a career. It was losing my whole identity."

Maroon 5, Ryan Dusick Bad Blood?

Dusick released a memoir titled "Harder to Breathe: A Memoir of Making Maroon 5, Losing It All, and Finding Recovery," which detailed the events that took place.

"I think if I was blindsided, it was just because I was in denial. The writing was on the wall," the musician explained, noting that the Maroon 5 members gave him a lot of time and opportunity to work through his issues before eventually letting him go.

However, Dusick acknowledges that it has been several years since then, and the pain has subsided, and his newly released memoir played a big role in closing that chapter of his life.

Maroon 5 Gains More Success

When asked about why it took him so long to get over the heartbreak, Dusick admitted that his identity was so tied up with Maroon 5, that it hurt him to no longer be a part of it, and he just spiraled from there.

"I was convinced in dealing with the loss of my career and my whole identity as 'the drummer in Maroon 5' that the rest of my life was just going to be this big letdown, and that all I could really hope to do was try to self-medicate or otherwise find moments of pleasure that would pass the time and help me to escape from this feeling of disappointment and loss."

However, after a decade later, Dusick is doing better and has found closure; he is now at peace with what had happened.

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Maroon 5