Springsteen on Mental Health: 'I Am Not Completely Well'

Rocker says dealing with mental health has been his bravest journey
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 27, 2018 5:48 PM CST
Updated Nov 28, 2018 12:33 AM CST
Bruce Springsteen Talks Mental Health
Bruce Springsteen performs at the 12th annual Stand Up For Heroes benefit concert at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018, in New York.   (Photo by Brad Barket/Invision/AP)

In an extensive new profile for Esquire, Bruce Springsteen opens up about the difficult relationship he had with his father growing up—one that made more sense when Springsteen found out, as an adult, that his father had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Springsteen has long struggled with his own mental health, having his first breakdown at age 32 and another in his 60s. He's been in analysis ever since that first breakdown, and says it saved his life. But, he says, he still fears a diagnosis similar to his father's.

"I have come close enough to [mental illness] where I know I am not completely well myself," he says. "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 ... just ... 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." He gets even more intimate than that, with topics ranging from his mental health journey to his relationship with his own kids and his one-man show, Springsteen on Broadway, which debuts as a film on Netflix next month. Read the full profile here. (Chris Christie has seen the Broadway show.)

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