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WATCH: Adrian Zammit Talks His Own Battles With Heroin Addiction And Racism In Intimate Xarabank Interview

Malta may be losing faith in its leaders, but Adrian Zammit has somehow emerged as one of the few voices of reason during the age of spin. The social media sensation took Xarabank to let us in on his own battles with addiction and racism and his thoughts on the controversial topics.

Zammit, an unlikely media superstar, let viewers in on his 10-year fight with heroin addiction, displaying abscesses and track marks along his leg and arms.

“They once said it was so bad they would need to chop off my arm, but I was worried about how I would be able to shoot up without an arm,” he said.

“I was against everyone on my street, police, ambulance services, you name it. But without them, I would be dead. They save my life on three occasions,” he continued.

But, he’s quick to point out that addictions don’t just mean hard drugs like heroin.

“Junkies aren’t the ones who shoot up, it’s anyone who is over-dependent on something. When you don’t have addictions you can live how you want, when you do your life is out of your hands, especially when you’re a woman,” he said.

Zammit’s the first to concede unsavoury aspects of his own past. A self-admitted former racist, Zammit says living in Marsa, an area where cultures collide with the presence of the open centre, turned to extreme ideologies.

“I would blame the actions of one, two, three people on the entire community,” he said.

Zammit even told host Peppi Azzopardi, an outspoken activist for migrant issues, that he considered him a “demon” back then.

“Sure, there are those who do bad things, but there are many others who are good. Maltese people do bad things too,” he said.

Making friends with people in these communities and finding a helping hand from migrants during a prison stint helped change his outlook.

It’s a change in outlook that’s inspired his eccentric social media personality, telling Azzopardi that his goal is to just make people happy.

“We’re all one family. Even God says to love everyone,” he said.

Zammit later tackled abuse on social media, saying he feels bad for political people or media personalities who are constantly attacked but cannot respond for the same figure.

“Look at me, I can sort of swear at them. But sometimes, it gets to me, there are personal things people just think they can say,” he said.

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Julian is the former editor of Lovin Malta and has a particular interest in politics, the environment, social issues, and human interest stories.

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