Mental illness runs in Bruce Springsteen’s family.
In a new interview on the Hollywood Reporter podcast Awards Chatter, the 20-time Grammy winner opened up about his family’s mental health history and experiencing his own “breakdown” around the release of 1982’s Nebraska album.
Springsteen recalled “difficult times” throughout his childhood, “exacerbated by the fact that my father was plagued by mental illness most of his life,” he told the podcast.
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Bruce Springsteen in 1985
“By the time I came out of Born in the U.S.A., I’d been in two years of analysis because I had a pretty good breakdown back when I was 32,” explained the now-75-year-old artist.
“And my family was filled with mental illness, my aunts, my uncles, my pop, and it just was in our blood, so I had to deal with it too,” continued Springsteen. “And thankfully, Mr. [Jon] Landau had some experience with it and directed me in to get some help, which I did.”
At the time, the Boss was going through some major life changes. “I was a different person. I got married [to Julianne Phillips] during the Born in the U.S.A. Tour,” said the performer, who tied the knot with Phillips in 1985. They divorced four years later, and he’s now been married to wife Patti Scialfa (with whom he shares three children) since 1991.
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Bruce Springsteen in September 2024
“And of course I was in a different financial situation by the time I came out of that [album cycle],” said Springsteen. “So it changed my life pretty radically. I spent some time adapting to it, but it all worked out okay.”
While his previous four albums saw major success, Born in the U.S.A. was a commercial juggernaut and launched Springsteen to superstar status as the project spawned seven top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
“I wasn’t expecting sort of the tidal wave that came with it. I was 35 by that time, 34, 35. So I was a little more able to handle it than I was at 25 when we had success with Born to Run,” he said, referencing his 1975 album. “And [I] enjoyed most of it, not all of it, but most of it.”
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