(D’Angelo on battling his substance abuse during his hiatus:) “I didn’t really think I had a problem like that,” he says. “I felt like, you know, all I got to do is clean up and I’ll be fine. Just get in the studio and I’ll be f***ing fine.” But he wasn’t. He had legal problems, friends in the industry dying of drug abuse, etc. (On gaining weight:) D’angelo ballooned up to 300 lbs, in part to spite those who admired him. The Roots drummer Questlove, D’Angelo’s former bandleader, explains to GQ that at some point, his friend just felt he had to escape stardom. The last day of the eight-month (Voodoo) tour, Questlove says D’Angelo told him: “‘Yo man, I cannot wait until this f**king tour is over. I’m going to go in the woods, drink some hooch, grow a beard, and get fat.’” Questlove thought he was joking. “I was like, ‘You’re a funny guy.’ And then it started to happen. That’s how much he wanted to distance himself. When someone wants to distance themselves from the world, gains weight and has continued drug use, those are usually signs that something more is happening in their lives. Social withdrawal is one of the most important symptoms of depression. When people feel depressed, they tend to withdraw from normal activities and social interactions. Furthermore, if a person becomes suicidal, there’s a greater risk that a suicide attempt would go unnoticed and potentially unstopped. But D’Angelo has moved past all of those things to come back out with another critically-acclaimed album, Black Messiah. The now 40-year-0ld is older, wiser, has a new outlook and the support of many friends and family to see him through.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 12:17:37 +0000
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