Fatboy Slim has admitted he felt ‘paralysed and rigid with fear’ at the prospect of DJing sober after he was treated in rehab for alcoholism.The DJ, whose real name is Norman Cook, checked into rehab in 2009, ten years into his marriage to ex-wife Zoe Ball. He has been sober for almost 15 years.He previously revealed his wake up call came when Zoe quietly confronted him and threatened to leave him unless he got sober.In a new interview, the artist said quitting was ‘the hardest thing’ he has done but said he couldn’t have gone sober without going to rehab. Norman, 62, said: ‘[It was] probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I couldn’t have done it without going to rehab. I needed someone to bash into my head for a month. You know, “you’ll die, and you’ll be in misery if you don’t stop doing this”.Six-time Grammy nominee Norman still struggled after coming out of treatment, admitting he was terrified to perform without a drink. Fatboy Slim has admitted he felt ‘paralysed and rigid with fear’ at the prospect of DJing sober after he was treated in rehab for alcoholism (pictured in June) The DJ, whose real name is Norman Cook, checked into rehab in 2009, ten years into his marriage to ex-wife Zoe Ball . He has been sober for almost 15 years (pictured in 2006)’For the first five shows, I was so paralysed and rigid with fear, I couldn’t dance, and I couldn’t enjoy it’, he added to The Guardian.’I was thinking: “What are you actually doing? Why are you going to play that record next? And why are they going to react to it?”Norman also revealed just how influential Zoe, 55, was on him at the height of his alcohol struggles. ‘That was my wake-up moment,’ he recalled. ‘There had been tons of people shouting at me before, but it was whispered very quietly in the end.’ Zoe and Norman began their romance in 1997 after they met in Ibiza and they married two years later at Babington House in Somerset. After welcoming son Woody in 2000, they split briefly in 2003 when it emerged she had an affair with a close friend of her husband’s DJ Dan Peppe.Following the revelation Norman said he still loved Zoe and would take her back, as long as she promised never to see Peppe again. The Praise You hitmaker confessed at the time: ‘I still love her. If you love someone you’ll forgive them.’ Fatboy Slim says his ex wife Zoe Ball saved him from alcholism after she threatened to leave him unless he got sober (pictured in 2001)They reconciled and welcomed daughter Nelly in 2010. However in September 2016 they announced their official separation. In a joint statement, the pair wrote: ‘With great sadness we are announcing that we have separated.’Opening up on her ‘painful’ divorce earlier this year, Zoe confessed: ‘You try everything and then think this is not working.’The anticipation of just coming out with it and saying to your partner “right it’s the time”. It’s so scary because it’s overwhelming on all fronts, you’re worrying about the kids, you’re worrying about your partner, you’re worrying about you and how it will all work out.’Something I can tell you from personal experience is, yes it is a lot to go through but you will come out the other side of it.’For confidential support, call Alcoholics Anonymous on 0800 917 7650 or email help@aamail.org.