Bruce Springsteen has opened up about the lack of awareness raised about mental health issues in the 1950s and 1960s.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, Springsteen said that "nothing was known" about these issues.
He was speaking about his personal life ahead of the upcoming release of his biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, which explores the period of conflict and personal struggle which The Boss went through as he wrote and recorded his much publicised his album 'Nebraska' from 1982.
“I grew up in the ‘50s and ‘60s you know – I was one to 10 in the ‘50s and my parents left for California when I was 18 or 19, so that was the extent of which I knew my dad and those were his very troubled years,” he said. “And like I said, the mental illness ran through my families".
Springsteen continued: “I had aunts very, very ill. I had cousins who were very ill. And I just got used to it as being, that was my family, and these were the people that I loved. But no one got any help whatsoever. You know, there was no medication, there was no interactions with any psychological help and people were really simply left on their own. You know it was just there – nothing was known about it and so everybody just suffered through it".
While discussing if he personally sought out help for his mental health during the period depicted in his biopic, he added: “Yeah I was very lucky you know and Jeremy really captures sort of my deterioration at that time when I had my first breakdown really is what it was. And though I didn’t know what was going on, I was lucky enough at that point to have a relationship with Mr. Landau, John Landau, and he’s had experience in this area and got me to some folks that really were able to help me out at the time".
“And I was totally embarrassed. And for years, I would almost disguise myself before going into the psychiatrist’s office. I had my baseball hat on and my glasses and I’m looking around and I’m sneaking in as fast as I can", he added.
“Just because, you know, I was grown up to believe that it was embarrassing to ask for that kind of help and need that kind of help. And it took me years to get used to just feeling fine and confident about walking into the office. It was so forbidden in the world that I grew up in that it took me a long time to get used to it, and now it has been a big part of…half of my life".
This biopic sees Springsteen played by actor Jeremy Allen White, who has also come in for particular praise from Springsteen. Find out more on this here.
