Bruce Springsteen Reveals His Mental Health Battle in New Biopic

The ace singer-songwriter and guitarist opened up about his "deterioration" and "first breakdown," as depicted in the biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere, sharing that back then, he was "embarrassed" to see a psychiatrist.

"Mental illness ran through my families. I had aunts, very, very ill. I had cousins who were very ill and I just got used to it," said Springsteen, during an appearance with Jeremy Allen White, who plays him in the film, on The Radio 2 Breakfast Show.

"These were the people that I loved. But no one got any help whatsoever ... there was no medication. There were no interactions with any psychological help. And so, everybody just suffered through it," the "Born to Run" singer said, as quoted by People.

Springsteen continued, "I was very lucky, you know, and Jeremy really captures sort of my deterioration at that time when I first, I guess 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, you know, Mr Landau, Jon Landau," he said, referencing his manager, played by Succession star Jeremy Strong in the film, which is in theatres October 24.

Landau, he said, "had experience in this area and got me to some folks that really were able to help me out at the time."

During this period depicted in the film, when he struggled with depression, Springsteen shared, "I was totally embarrassed. And for years, I would almost disguise myself before going into the psychiatrist's office. I have my baseball hat on and my glasses and I'm looking around and I'm sneaking in as fast as I can."

"It took me years to get used to just feeling fine and confident about walking into the office," he said. "It was just 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's been a big part of my life for the last half of my life," as quoted by People.

- ANI