Many fans have found joy over the years listening to Rick Springfield’s 1981 hit “Jessie Girl,” but few know about the singer’s dark side.
In an interview on Sirius XM’s “Feedback” that aired Thursday, the now-68-year-old opened up about his new song “Suicide Manifesto” and how he privately battled depression.
“Last year I was close to it, really close to it,” explained Springfield on how he considered killing himself. “When Robin Williams and Chester (Bennington and Chris Cornell) and those guys… I didn’t go, ‘Oh that’s terrible.’ I went, ‘I get it.’ I get being that lost and dark.”
Springfield added, “You’re in so much pain that you just want it to end. I have been there and I know what it’s like and I understand. It’s just part of your makeup."
That wasn’t the first time the rocker thought about suicide.
In his 2011 autobiography, “Late, Late at Night,” Springfield described how he attempted to hang himself at age 17, but the rope he attempted to use snapped.
“I tried” Springfield recalled. “I don’t know how I survived it, but I survived the hanging.”
And while Springfield’s two children have kept him motivated to overcome his personal demons, he continues to wonder how such a tragedy would impact his family.
“When I had kids I said, ‘Okay that takes suicide off the table, that’s not an option anymore, I don’t care how bad I feel,’” he explained. “But now my kids are grown. It’s really weird… it would devastate them. I don’t know how I could ever come to terms with that. But it rides on my shoulder every day.”
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