Rock legend Bruce Springsteen opens up about his struggle with depression in candid new autobiography Born To Run
Singer reveals the impact the mental illness has had on his life and his father's fight against it
LEGENDARY rocker Bruce Springsteen has revealed his battles with depression in his up-coming autobiography.
The Boss, 66, explored his history with the mental illness and his father’s fight against it in new book Born To Run, out later this month.
In an interview, in Vanity Fair, before its release he spoke about his fear of falling victim to depression in the same way his father, Douglas, did before him.
He said: “You don’t know the illness’s parameters. Can I get sick enough to where I become a lot more like my father than I thought I might?”
Springsteen’s memoir reveals just how the illness has impacted his life in recent years.
He says: “I was crushed between sixty and sixty-two, good for a year and out again from sixty-three to sixty-four. Not a good record.”
The star released Wrecking Ball in 2012, an 11-track album featuring a song titled, This Depression.
He also writes in his book about how his wife, Patti Scialfa, would see him at his worst.
The rockstar said: “Patti will observe a freight train bearing down, loaded with nitroglycerin and running quickly out of track… she gets me to the doctors and says: ‘This man needs a pill’.
Scialfa told Vanity Fair she did not enjoy that anecdote being included in the book, but added: “I think it’s great for him to write about depression.”
In the book, Springsteen described himself as coming from a family with prominent mental health issues, although he says they went undiagnosed for the most part.
He said: “As a child, it was simply mysterious, embarrassing and ordinary.”
He also detailed his troubled relationship with his father, who was unable to tell his son he loved him despite their relationship recovering to a degree prior to his death in 1998.
Springsteen added: “The best you could get was, “Love you, Pops.” (Switching to his father’s voice) ‘Eh, me, too’.
“Even after he had a stroke and he’d be crying, he’d still go, ‘Me, too’.
You’d hear his voice breaking up, but he couldn’t get out the words.”