Bruce Springsteen is not completely well.
He knows this, which some would say is half the battle. But as too many Americans know, chronic depression brings with it daily struggles.
The Boss said in a new interview with Esquire that he's fought mental illness his entire life. His disease has left plenty of scars, however. But now he worries about seeing the signs in his children.
"I have come close enough to [mental illness] where I know I am not completely well myself," Springsteen said, referring to his family history with depression and his rough upbringing.
"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."
Doug Springsteen, Bruce's father, was diagnosed with schizophrenia later in his life. He and Bruce had a volatile relationship, which they were never truly able to reconcile.
Bruce says the most important thing for people with mental illness to remember is that to be idle is to lose the battle; there's no ignoring it.
"With each passing year, the price of our refusal to [deal with it] sort of rises higher and higher," he said.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer recalls two mental breakdowns in his life. One in his 30s, another in his 60s. He says the intensity of the breakdowns was such that he doesn't know if it lasted weeks or months, "But it was a very bad spell, and it just came."
"And it came out of the roots that I came out of, particularly on my father's side, where I had to cop to the fact that I also had things inside me that could lead me to pretty bad places."
Bruce's wildly successful Springsteen on Broadway show closes on December 15. The following day, the show will be released as a two-disc live album and a Netflix special.
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