MÖTLEY CRÜE's NIKKI SIXX Wants to Live to 100 and 'Outlive His Critics' Along the Way

MÖTLEY CRÜE’s NIKKI SIXX
MÖTLEY CRÜE’s NIKKI SIXX—Image: Wikimedia
Summary
  • Nikki Sixx says his ‘66-year-old pirate ship’ is ready to sail, aiming to live until age 100 with strict health routines and sobriety.
  • Mötley Crüe skipped the Black Sabbath farewell show due to ongoing health issues within the band, Sixx confirmed.
  • The band will release a singles collection, From The Beginning, on September 12, including a duet with Dolly Parton.

Nikki Sixx isn’t just chasing the next riff anymore. NOPE! These days, he’s got his sights set on something a bit more ambitious than a chart position or a sold-out arena, he’s aiming for triple digits.

The Mötley Crüe co-founder, bassist, and former poster child for self-destruction is now charting a very different course. According to his recent Instagram post, Sixx has turned routine blood panels into a biannual ritual and is steering what he calls his “66-year-old pirate ship” toward 100.

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That’s not rock hyperbole. That’s the plan.

This is coming from a man who, by his own admission, once woke up clinically dead after a heroin overdose, wrote about it in The Heroin Diaries, and then sold out stadiums on the back of that chaos. These days, the chaos is confined to the gym, the kitchen, and probably the occasional family vacation itinerary. Sixx is clean, sober, and fueled more by smoothies than speedballs.

“Just got back today’s newest results,” he wrote, “and considering some misadventures in the past, this 66-year-old pirate ship looks ready to go back to sea.”

The tone was part swagger, part gratitude, and a big dose of don’t-even-think-about-pity. He didn’t ask for applause, but he definitely wants the message heard. He has five children, a granddaughter, and a wife he adores, and if you think any of that’s worth tossing out for a relapse into old indulgences, you don’t know Sixx in 2025.

“Do you think any part of my past indulgences is worth destroying the beautiful life I built? Never.”

Sixx also offered a public dare to his critics, and he’s got plenty, with the kind of dry edge only he can deliver:

“I’m planning on cracking 100. That will piss off the critics.”

The Road From Death to Discipline

The transformation didn’t happen overnight. It’s been 24 years since Sixx got sober, and if his journey sounds like something from a grizzled redemption arc, that’s because it is. In earlier posts, the bassist didn’t sugarcoat the withdrawal or the silence he endured while clawing his way out of addiction.

“Nobody held my hand while I was kicking heroin,” he once wrote. “In fact, nobody even called to check on me. Nor did anybody hold my hair while I was vomiting blood.”

Sixx doesn’t romanticize the experience, nor does he perform it for likes. His perspective on addiction is clinical, spiritual, and brutally unsentimental. He describes it as an allergy, not a moral failing. What he found in sobriety was structure, program, and accountability, and he doesn’t think those things are optional.

“Your ego will kill you,” he warned in a past reflection, pointing to the necessity of admitting powerlessness before progress can begin. “The beneficiaries are the people you love, plus the never-ending joy of feeling alive in this short life.”

That’s the clearest window into Sixx’s current mindset: longevity isn’t just a flex, it’s an act of rebellion against the chaos he used to embody. Where once he dodged death with syringes and psychosis, now he stares down the calendar with supplements, sober programs, and self-awareness.

Crüe Control and the Sabbath Snub

Not long before that July 11 Instagram post, Sixx found himself fielding questions about Mötley Crüe’s absence from the massive Black Sabbath farewell blowout on July 5, a historic show packed with appearances by Metallica, Slayer, Tool, KoRn, and Alice In Chains.

When asked by a fan why Crüe wasn’t part of the lineup, Sixx replied flatly: “We have been having health issues within the band…”

Subtle, and pointed. No drama, just facts.

While no names were named, Sixx took the opportunity to double down on his new ethos: health comes first, legacy second, and nostalgia somewhere much further down the line. Mötley Crüe isn’t finished, not by a long shot, but they’re not dragging themselves to the stage just for a footnote in someone else’s highlight reel.

Back to the Strip, but With Boundaries

The band is still active. On September 12, Crüe will release From The Beginning, a singles compilation landing via BMG, and yes, it includes a Dolly Parton collab on their classic “Home Sweet Home.”

If your eyebrows just shot up, you’re not alone. But this is Crüe 2.0, cleaner, weirder, and still willing to mess with expectations.

That same day, the band launches a ten-show Vegas residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM, a venue that probably never imagined hosting Mötley Crüe when it was designed.

The Strip may not know what’s about to hit it, but it won’t be the same guys from 1987. The hair’s shorter. The vices are different. But the bite? Still there.

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