Steven Tyler confirmed that his recent stint in rehab was to fight a dependency on pain and sleep medication that he began taking when he was recovering from several foot surgeries, according to published reports.

Tyler originally had said he sought the "safe environment" of rehab last month to recover from foot surgeries to correct longtime injuries that resulted from years of performing. But he told the Associated Press on Friday (6/27), "To have your feet done, to have your leg done, you have to be on narcotics. You have to be on sleep aids at night.... I was off and running and I didn't like the me that was me.

"This was a month ago, so I just put the brakes on and checked into detox and just pulled the plug on all of it," Tyler told the AP at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, where he and his bandmates were promoting the new video game "Guitar Hero 3: Aerosmith [ tickets ]."

The 60-year-old rocker, who was known for heavy drug and alcohol abuse in the 1970s and early '80s, reportedly completed his first rehabilitation in 1986.