United Kingdom, April 18 -- Creedence Clearwater Revival founder John Fogerty thinks he "probably would be dead" if he had not met his wife.

The 80-year-old rock star was not in a good place with his mental health when he first set eyes on Julie Lebiedzinski while on tour in 1986 because his record company blocked him from having control of the publishing rights of the songs he had penned.

Appearing on the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the Fortunate Son hitmaker admitted: "If I hadn't met her, I probably would be dead. Simple as that. I didn't see any way out. I was really abusing myself, alcohol mostly. I really felt bad inside.

"When you get like that, Joe, you're not really operating on the same plane in the world that...