'It Could Have Turned Out So Differently': Kris Kristofferson Once Thought He’d Be Dead by 30

Kris Kristofferson was always open about overcoming his struggles with substance abuse.

The country music legend and actor — who died at his Maui home at age 88 on Saturday, Sept. 28 — often spoke candidly about his hard-partying days as a musician on the road and an actor in Hollywood. In a 1998 interview with PEOPLE, Kristofferson detailed how having a family and wanting to be there for his loved ones finally motivated him to quit drinking.

"I thought all serious artists were self-destructive. That anybody worth their salt was going to be out there living on the edge," he said at the time, referring to his heavy drinking habits in the late 1960s and early 1970s — around the time he began a relationship with his fellow contemporary Janis Joplin.

"I don't know what you call a love affair, but we were real close," he said of the pair's relationship. "I liked her sense of humor. I was doing a lot of drinking then... And she was trying to kick heroin."

Soon after, Joplin succumbed to her addition issues, dying in October 1970 at 27 years old.

"It tore me up," Kristofferson recalled of Joplin's death, but said it still wasn't enough to convince him to quit drinking. "I was a functioning alcoholic," he told PEOPLE.

"For a couple of years, it was Jack Daniels, then it was tequila, then it was anything," he continued. "When I was performing, I couldn't imagine getting up and doing it without drinking."

What truly kick-started his journey to sobriety was his role in the 1976 remake ofA Star Is Born, in which he starred alongsideBarbra Streisand. According to the actor, seeing his own death sc -

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ene in the film, featuring a character who struggled with drinking, forced him to make a change.

"I had a half quart of Jose Cuervo in my icebox that they never let get empty," Kristofferson said, recalling the environment on set before he saw the footage of his character's death scene. "I remember feeling that that could very easily be my wife and kids crying over me. I quit drinking over that. I didn't want to die before my daughter grew up."

Not long after the musician got sober, he met his wife Lisa Meyers in 1982. The pair went on to welcome five children together, and Kristofferson also had three children from previous marriages.

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Reflecting on his peaceful family life and home in Hawaii in 1998, Kristofferson told PEOPLE, "I never could have imagined this. I sit right here and think how it could have turned out so differently. I never thought I'd live past 30. I could have ended up dead."

A representative for the star confirmed that he was surrounded by family when he died on Saturday.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on September 28 at home," his family said in a statement shared with PEOPLE.

"We’re all so blessed for our time with him," the statement continued. "Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all."

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