Bruce Springsteen confesses he’s had a long struggle with mental illness after a shocking crack-up when he was 32 years old! Now 69 and fresh off his “Springsteen on Broadway” run, the icon says his emotional collapse had been building all his life and ties it to his relationship with the blue-collar dad he idolized. His father, Doug, never told him “I love you,” and that broke Bruce’s heart. As a result, The Boss hardened himself — and cut himself off from love. Read on for details of Bruce’s emotional battle, and click here for more news of celebs dealing with mental illness….
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“All I know is that the weight of our unsorted baggage becomes heavier, much heavier,” Bruce said. “With each passing year, the price of our refusal to do that sorting becomes higher and higher. We ignore our demons at our peril.”
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Bruce’s breakdown happened when he and a pal stopped at a summer fair in a small Texas town during a drive from
his native New Jersey to Los Angeles. As he watched the affectionate couples and happy families, something in him broke open.
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He still doesn’t know why he cracked at that moment, but the incident propelled him into therapy where he grappled with his internal agony. Shockingly, he realized that his blue jeans and leather jacket image was based on Doug, who had been distant and cold.
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“Those whose love we wanted, but didn’t get, we emulate them,” he said. “It is our only way to get it. So when it came time, I chose my father’s voice because there was something sacred in it to me. My father was my hero and my greatest foe.”
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Photo credit: Mega
A decade later, the darkness was banished by a visit from his dad, who finally told him: “You’ve been very good to us. And I wasn’t very good to you.” “It was the greatest moment in my life, with my dad,” he says of Doug, who died in 1998 at age 73.
“All I know is that the weight of our unsorted baggage becomes heavier, much heavier,” Bruce said. “With each passing year, the price of our refusal to do that sorting becomes higher and higher. We ignore our demons at our peril.”
Bruce’s breakdown happened when he and a pal stopped at a summer fair in a small Texas town during a drive from
his native New Jersey to Los Angeles. As he watched the affectionate couples and happy families, something in him broke open.
Photo credit: Getty Images
He still doesn’t know why he cracked at that moment, but the incident propelled him into therapy where he grappled with his internal agony. Shockingly, he realized that his blue jeans and leather jacket image was based on Doug, who had been distant and cold.
Photo credit: Getty Images
“Those whose love we wanted, but didn’t get, we emulate them,” he said. “It is our only way to get it. So when it came time, I chose my father’s voice because there was something sacred in it to me. My father was my hero and my greatest foe.”
A decade later, the darkness was banished by a visit from his dad, who finally told him: “You’ve been very good to us. And I wasn’t very good to you.” “It was the greatest moment in my life, with my dad,” he says of Doug, who died in 1998 at age 73.
