Amba Jackson Recounts Struggles with Drugs and Alcohol at Prestigious New York University

Amba Jackson, granddaughter of Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger, has revealed that she struggled with substance abuse and alcoholism during her time at the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York. Jackson, 30, detailed her experiences in a recent Substack post, describing a period where she was "taking a lot of drugs" and was "borderline alcoholic."

Jackson, an artist and the daughter of Jade Jagger and Piers Jackson, enrolled at Pratt to study Fashion Design at age 19, inspired by the life of 1960s socialite Edie Sedgwick. She admitted that her choice of university was not deeply considered, influenced by a friend's suggestion. For Jackson, who identifies as neurodivergent, the academic and social environment proved challenging.

"For a highly sensitive, neurodivergent, mentally unstable, borderline alcoholic adolescent, who wanted to spend a significant amount of time getting drunk and chatting shit with her equally unstable friends, keeping up with schoolwork was challenging," Jackson wrote. She experienced feelings of shame and inadequacy, contrasting with a public perception of her family. Her older sister, Assisi Jackson, had previously described Amba as working diligently at Pratt.

Despite her personal struggles, the pressure of university unexpectedly fostered her artistic output. "For the first time in my life, due to fear of expulsion, I was no longer a blocked and terrified creative, I was a prolific artist," she explained. Jackson later found a more supportive artistic environment during a two-year internship with experimental artist Susan Cianciolo in Brooklyn. Cianciolo's approach, Jackson found, allowed her sensitivity to be expressed without judgment.

Now, after studying art therapy, Jackson is seeking planning permission to convert stables on her property in south Devon into a community art center, aiming to create an environment that embraces emotional expression. She reflected on the nature of emotions, questioning societal expectations of perfection and beauty, and exploring the possibility of expressing "messy, irregular, changeable, unskilled, loud, unrefined, childish" emotions while still being loved and appreciated.