Libertines hellraiser Pete Doherty turned back on rock ‘n’ roll excess and tragedy and now hardest struggle is beating cheese addiction and diabetes

Pete Doherty was once the wild child of the British indie music scene, a poet with a prolific drug habit and an appetite for self-destruction. 

His messy love life and frequent run-ins with the law came to overshadow his music, as the former Libertines star pinballed from one calamity to the next during the noughties.

Whether it was dating Kate Moss or Amy Winehouse, sparking a riot at his gigs or being found partying with a grubby entourage of hangers on in ‘crack dens’, his was a life lived in the celebrity spotlight. 

His infamy reached its peak after he was caught on CCTV fleeing from a house party where Cambridge graduate Mark Blanco fell to his death. 

The former hellraiser settled down after he started to date former Puta Madres bandmate Katia de Vidas in 2012, with the couple relocating to the French countryside – and Doherty swapping crack and heroin for a newfound addiction to French cheese.

The Babyshambles singer welcomed a son, his third child, in May 2023 but the years of debauchery appeared to have taken their toll, with Pete telling documentary maker Louis Theroux later that year that he was “a very sick man” and that “death is lurking”. 

But remarkably, after being diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes, Doherty has shed large amounts of weight and posted a photo of himself looking slim and dapper on his Instagram on Thursday. 

Doherty was a shy, poetic teenager, a dedicated fan of the Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers and author of All Quiet On The Western Avenue, a fanzine dedicated to his beloved QPR football team. 

Pete Doherty posted a photo of himself looking slim and dapper on his Instagram on Thursday, revealing his dramatic weight loss after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes earlier this year

Reactions to the photo of a healthy-looking, stylish Doherty received masses of positive feedback, including a heart response from the official Libertines account

Doherty pictured in 2021. While the Libertines frontman had got clean from drugs, he had gained a large amount of weight – which he attributed to his love for French cheese 

In 1997, aged just 18, Doherty dropped out of his English Literature course at Queen Mary and formed The Libertines with his fellow songwriter and kindred spirit Carl Barât.

The pair moving into a flat together on Camden Road in North London, which they nicknamed ‘the Albion rooms’. 

Success initially proved limited but after the huge success of The Strokes debut album ‘Is This It’ in 2001, their chaotic, energetic sound became much sought-after and they signed with British label Rough Trade. 

Their debut album ‘Up The Bracket’ – a phrase popularised by beloved British comedian Tony Hancock, meaning a throat-punch – was released in 2002 and sold well. 

But with success came growing issues with Doherty’s drug use, and the Libertines’ legendary live shows become increasing chaotic – as did Doherty’s personal life. 

He was arrested countless times for drug offences – once when 13 wraps of heroin fell from his pocket during a criminal hearing – and pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine.

Doherty was jailed numerous times. He was sentenced to a six-month stint in 2003 after he broke into bandmate Carl Barât’s Harley Street flat and stole a guitar and a laptop while The Libertines were touring Japan without him – but only served two months after his sentence was cut on appeal.

In 2008, he served 29 days of a 14-week sentence in Wormwood Scrubs prison after being arrested on drugs charges the previous year.

A fresh-faced Pete Doherty queuing for an Oasis album being interviewed by then-music channel MTV

Pete Doherty performing with The Libertines at Shepherds Bush Empire back in October 2002

A pale, gaunt-looking Doherty is escorted by police officers as he leaves a hearing at Ealing Magistrates’ Court, west London, in 2006 where he pleaded guilty to charges of possession of cocaine and heroin

Doherty’s high public profile meant that his behaviour was subject to intense public and media scrutiny

As The Libertines rose to fame in 2003, Doherty started a romance with singer Lisa Moorish, something that saw them welcome a son, Astile. 

However, the relationship wouldn’t last and after they broke up the rocker found himself banned from seeing his son due to his drug habit.

The following year his bandmates kicked him out of The Libertines, citing his rampant drug use as the deciding factor and urging him to seek help. 

Doherty took the opportunity to focus on his new band, Babyshambles, although his tumultuous times continued. 

The band triggered a violent riot after they failed to show up to one of their gigs at London Astoria in December 2004. 

More than 100 angry fans stormed the stage after being told the rockers would not be performing following a two-hour delay to the midnight show. 

Security staff battled to contain the pandemonium as the furious crowd of people started destroying the venue.

Describing the chaos at the time, a witness told NME: ‘The curtains were torn down, drinks were thrown, the drum kit was smashed and essentially the entire contents of the stage were destroyed. The security forced the kids back to the other side of the barrier.’

Just one year later in 2005, Doherty would meet supermodel Kate Moss at her 31st birthday party – triggering a relationship marred by chaos and drugs.

‘Britain’s most talked-about celebrity couple’ Kate Moss and Pete Doherty pictured together at the 2005 Isle Of Wight Festival

Kate Moss and Pete Doherty leaving the Morrison Hotel to go to Ambassador Theatre where his band Babyshambles were performing

Kate Moss and Pete Doherty arrive at the Shockwaves NME Awards 2007, both dressed in black

At first they were Britain’s most talked-about celebrity couple, with their A-list party lifestyle documented daily in the tabloids.

Moss kept a dignified silence throughout, while Doherty, who at the time was ravaged by a heroin addiction, also gave little away.

But years later he revealed the turbulence that defined their relationship in his autobiography ‘A Likely Lad’, claiming he once accidentally set off a panic alarm in Moss’s bedroom at her home in St John’s Wood, North-West London, prompting 12 armed police officers to turn up at the door.

He confessed he pressed the button, which is thought to have been linked to the local police station, while looking down the side of the supermodel’s bed for a piece of crack cocaine he had lost.

Doherty’s drug-taking has plagued his career, and once led to him pleading guilty in court to seven charges of possession. He managed to avoid being jailed but was ordered to go to rehab – another regular occurrence in his relationship with Moss. 

In 2005, she promised to stand by Doherty, the son of an Army Major, when he admitted himself to the Meadows rehab clinic, popular with celebrities, in Arizona.

It was just two months after Moss had been caught appearing to snort cocaine at a West London recording studio, so she was adamant he didn’t leave the clinic until he had completed his treatment.

But his trip to the US ended in yet another falling out with Moss. After he told her how miserable he was in the clinic, she said she would cheer him up by taking him by helicopter over the Grand Canyon. She failed to turn up, and shortly afterwards he checked himself out. Moss then dumped him.

CCTV footage of Pete Doherty running from the home in East London where Mark Blanco died

Mark Blanco is pictured with his mother Sheila on his Cambridge graduation day in June 1997

The party was attended by singer Pete Doherty and members of his entourage. Pictured: The Libertines singer outside Easling Magistrates Court in 2006

Aspiring actor Mark Blanco is pictured in hospital after the tragic events unfolded

In an extract in The Guardian, Doherty said: ‘When I set off for my treatment at the Meadows, I had all my drugs hidden in my luggage.’ 

Arriving at the clinic, he said the staff ‘found all the bits in my baggage, plus what I’d hidden inside the lining of my jeans – they really knew their stuff. It was a different vibe than UK rehab – a mix of absolutely loaded trust-fund kids and people trying to avoid federal convictions by doing rehab.

‘One guy shared in the group therapy how he was in for looking at child porn on the internet. I couldn’t handle that. I refused to be in a group with him. I was horrified.

‘After two weeks, Kate was supposed to come and visit me and take me to the Grand Canyon in a helicopter, and I got the right hump when she didn’t show up. In the end I did a runner. When Kate found out I hadn’t finished the treatment, she told me point-blank that was it, there was no way we could see each other now.

‘I said, “yeah, but you were supposed to come and get me in a helicopter for a day trip to the Grand Canyon”.’

Unsurprisingly, Doherty admits Moss was not happy and the episode was one of the factors that led to the end of their tumultuous two-year relationship in July 2007.

It was during his relationship with Moss that Doherty became embroiled in an incident that continues to raise its head 17 years later. 

In 2006 the rocker and his entourage turned up at a house party in east London being held by his drug addict friend Paul Roundhill. Also present was Cambridge graduate Mark Blanco, who later in the night was allegedly thrown off a first-floor balcony to his death.

Mark Blanco’s mother Shelia Blanco has been trying to get to the bottom of her son’s death 

Mr Blanco’s mother Sheila remains convinced that her son was pushed off the balcony

While police have never charged anyone with his death, Doherty’s ‘minder’ Johnny Jeannevol, known locally as ‘Johnny Headlock’, later confessed to murdering him. He later retracted this confession and blamed it on taking drugs.

CCTV footage from the night in question showed Doherty with another girlfriend, 19-year-old Kate Russell-Pavier, and Jeannevol fleeing the scene, callously swerving Mark’s body.

Officers investigated the case but no charges were ever brought against Doherty. 

A Channel 4 documentary about Mark’s death, called ‘Pete Doherty, Who Killed My Son?’, which follows his mother Sheila Blanco on her quest for answers, was released in September 2023. 

Responding to the broadcast, Doherty handed a one-line sentence to Channel 4 that read: ‘I am sorry for Mrs Blanco’s loss and I welcome any assistance people can give her to come to terms with what happened.’

The same year he had one of the most unlikely romances in showbusiness, after it was reported he had a short fling with Big Brother star Nikki Grahame days after he rekindled his romance with Kate.

He reportedly serenaded Grahame at his flat with his guitar, after they met during a night out at London hotspot Boujis.

Nikki’s ex-flatmate told The People: ‘She’d had a lot to drink and they ended up going back to his place in Notting Hill, just the two of them. He got his guitar out and started singing to her.

Party guest Naomi Stirk recalled that there had been a ‘sinister’ atmosphere that evening

Renowned FBI agent Grand Fredericks has claimed there must have been ‘more than one person on the balcony’ the night that a Cambridge graduate fell to his death

Fredericks said the ‘reverse projection clearly shows there couldn’t be just one person on the balcony’

‘Nikki thought he was really sweet and caring but his flat was disgusting. There were needles everywhere and it was filthy.’

In an interview in 2006, Nikki also revealed that Pete was one of her clients during her brief stint as a £500-per-hour escort.

She told MailOnline: ‘He was my first booking. He often used the agency. I went round to a flat in London. It was a complete s*** hole full of other druggies playing guitars and just hanging out.

‘I ended up snogging him but we didn’t have full sex. He was so wasted on drugs he wasn’t capable.’

The rocker’s brushes with the law would continue, especially in relation to drugs, with numerous arrests, culminating in a 14 week prison sentence in 2007 after he breached a probation order. 

In 2011 he had a fling with model Lindi Hingston, a romance that saw the birth of his second child, daughter Aisling.

A week after Lindi shared the news of her birth in 2012, Pete said: ‘The little girl was two months premature. I said I’d try to be there for the birth… Yeah, she’s mine.’ 

Doherty also revealed that year that he had had a secret romance with Amy Winehouse, speaking out a year after her death from alcohol poisoning.

Doherty confirmed to The Mail On Sunday in 2012 that him and Amy Winehouse were ‘lovers,’ stating ‘I loved her then and, well, I still do today’

Doherty married his wife Katia de Vidas in a private ceremony in 2012, just two days after confirming their engagement

The rocker with his wife Katia de Vidas and daughter (pictured together August 2023)

Speaking to The Mail On Sunday in 2012, he said: ‘Amy and I were lovers. I loved her then and, well, I still do today.

‘But towards the end, as only lovers can, she became quite mean and cruel to me. She didn’t suffer fools… and believe me, she had a mean right hook.’

It is believed that since 2012 the rocker has been in a relationship with Puta Madres bandmate Katia de Vidas, a fellow musician, whom he married last year.

Although he now lives a quieter existence, his troubled ways have not entirely left him when in 2020 he was before the courts again, albeit not for drugs.

The singer appeared at Margate Magistrates’ Court where he was banned from driving after police officers caught him in the middle of night riding an e-scooter while searching for his dog. 

Doherty was already banned from driving at the time and told the court he was unaware he wasn’t able to ride an e-scooter while disqualified. 

That same year he opened up trendy five-storey hotel The Albion Rooms alongside his The Libertines bandmates in seaside town Margate, Kent. 

It was given a £500,000 revamp with garish decor guests described as ‘ghastly’ in 2020, with rooms named after famous poets such as Emily Dickinson and William Blake. 

The singer and his The Libertines bandmates opened new hotel The Albion Rooms, in Margate, Kent, in 2020, and gave it a £500,000 revamp guests described at the time as ‘ghastly’ 

Such has been Doherty’s troubles with drugs that for large parts of the noughties it overshadowed his music career. Pictured: The rocker at C a vous in Paris in April 2019

The musician found himself in hot water with the courts again in 2020 when he was banned from driving when he was caught riding an e-scooter in the middle of night while disqualified

Peter said in 2021 that he has been doing a lot of sleeping, eating French cheese and drinking water following his move to Normandy

Today, a seven-night stay in its The Delaney double room costs £1,309, while a sea view suite is a jaw-dropping £2,060. 

Doherty, who is now overweight in a shocking contrast to his trademark gaunt look during his rock star heyday, has tried to leave his toxic past behind.

He says: ‘It’s a quiet, simple existence. I get up before sunrise and take the dogs for a walk. Then I go back to bed at six or seven, then get up again.’

He then strolls into the village, buys a French newspaper, which he says he ‘pretends to read’, and has a coffee and a brandy at about 11am.

‘Then I go back home and maybe watch some… movies, listen to some Tony Hancock, have a siesta, walk the dogs again and go to bed.’

Yet Doherty has returned to public performance, and in 2022 The Libertines celebrated 20 years of their debut release with a show at London’s Wembley Arena.

In 2023 Pete announced his first solo tour in a decade with 13 dates in the UK and Ireland spread across two months, which included gigs at The Royal Albert Hall.

Libertines fans were even happier when it was announced that a new album would follow in 2024 – with All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade released in April 2024.  

Pete Doherty was seen at the Duke of Wellington pub in London’s Belgravia on September 13 with his baby daughter Billie-May Doherty

Pete previously told documentary-maker Louis Theroux in 2023 that he was ‘a very sick man’ and didn’t expect to live much longer

But while fans were jubilant to see Doherty performing and writing again, the star  raised concerns about his long-term health prognosis.  

In an interview with documentary maker Louis Theroux in 2023, Doherty described himself ‘a very sick man’ and added ‘death is lurking’.   

‘I’ve battered it, haven’t I, I’ve fucking caned it,’ Doherty said. ‘[The] heroin and the crack… I surrendered to that. Then it was cocaine and the smoking and the alcohol, and now it’s cheese and the saucisson, and the sugar in the tea… it’s all gotta go.’

He added: ‘They told me a little while ago if you don’t change your diet then you’re gonna have diabetes and cholesterol problems… Death’s lurking, you know what I mean? That’s why I carry that stick.’

Echoing those warnings, Doherty told The Guardian’s Saturday Magazine in February 2024, he said: ‘I gave up the main poisons and my health improved.

‘Then you get told alcohol and cheese and sugar are just as bad and you were healthier when you were on heroin.’ Doherty went on to call himself ‘a bit of a glutton’.

‘It’s not a joke,’ he said. ‘I’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. And at the moment I’m lacking the discipline to tackle cholesterol.’ 

But it seems Pete has worked on his lack of discipline after receiving some harsh words from his doctor.

Musician Pete Doherty poses during the presentation of the documentary ‘Peter Doherty: Stranger in my own Skin’ at the In-Edit Festival at the Calderon Hotel in Barcelona in 2023 

Doherty and director and keyboardist, Katia de Vidas pose during the presentation of the documentary ‘Peter Doherty: Stranger in my own Skin’

The star previously told the Evening Standard that his doctor had told him he had to change his diet immediately.

He told the publication: ‘I have seen a liver doctor who says I need to change my diet – too much cheese, too much milk.

‘But the cheese is so good, that’s part of the reason I stay here… It’s a cholesterol and diabetes thing now, but there are tablets, it makes a big difference.’

Doherty’s Instagram post of him looking clean in a dapper suit seems evidence that Doherty has been taking medical professionals advice to heart. 

The post received extremely positive feedback online. ‘Very dapper,’ one user wrote, while another said ‘Love this fit!’ The photo even received a heart response from the official Libertines account.

While Doherty’s journey has been chaotic, the former libertine retains a huge number of fans hoping and praying that he can stay clean and healthy.