United Kingdom, March 5 -- Billy Idol finally beat his heroin addiction when he started smoking crack.

The 70-year-old rock star had a "terrible" time trying to overcome his dependency on the drug, and only by replacing it with another vice was he eventually able to stop relying on heroin.

Speaking on the Club Random with Bill Maher podcast, he said: "Once you're trying to get off heroin, what do you go to? You go to something else. I started smoking crack to get off heroin."

Amazed host Bill Maher said: "Did you really?"

Billy laughed as he replied: "It worked. It worked.

"This is probably the worst advert, but it worked.

"It's kind of nasty.I liked taking drugs back then. It took me a long time to put them in the rearview mirror. ...