PHOTOSBruce Springsteen Reveals He Suffers From Mental Health Issues
Nov. 27 2018, Published 7:38 p.m. ET
Bruce Springsteen revealed in an interview with Esquire that he has been in a lifelong battle with mental health. The “Born to Run” singer said a lot of his issues stemmed from his volatile relationship with his father, but he credited music with helping him through his darkest days.
Bruce, 69, said he entered his sixties with “a crippling depression.” He credited his Broadway show, Springsteen on Broadway, for giving him peace as he nears his seventies.
“When I was a child, and into my teens I felt like a very, very empty vessel. And it wasn’t until I began to fill it up with music that I began to feel my own personal power and my impact on my friends and the small world that I was in. I began to get some sense of myself. But it came out of a place of real emptiness,” he said.
He further explained that sense of emptiness in his 2016 autobiography Born to Run. In the book, he wrote, “My father was very dismissive of primarily who I was. And that sends you off on a lifelong quest to sort through that.” Bruce also revealed that his father Doug Springsteen was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.
- 15 Best Cameos by Musicians: From Michael Jackson in 'Men in Black II' to Phil Collins in 'Hook'
- Bruce Springsteen's Health Scare: Singer Forced to Cancel Shows to Avoid 'Something Worse' From Happening to Him
- Barack & Michelle Obama Vacation in Spain With Steven Spielberg & Kate Capshaw, Wives Join Bruce Springsteen on Stage: Photos
Bruce said his first breakdown happened when he was 32 years old around the time he released his sixth studio album, Nebraska. “I have come close enough to mental illness where I know I am not completely well myself,” he said.
Bruce continued, “I’ve had to deal with a lot of it over the years, and I’m on a variety of medications that keep me on an even keel; otherwise I can swing rather dramatically, and the wheels can come off a little bit. So we have to watch, in our family. I have to watch my kids, and I’ve been lucky there. It ran in my family going way before my dad.”
What do you think of Bruce opening up about his mental health? Let us know in the comments below.
