At the height of his career, Rick Springfield got to be a rock star and a TV star -- General Hospital's Dr. Noah Drake -- simultaneously. He was young, rich and famous, so you'd think he'd have the world by the tail.
Not according to Late, Late at Night, Springfield's new memoir about the dark places depressive illness has taken him in his life. Springfield, 61, begins his book with an account of a failed suicide attempt at age 17, and as his tale of life and love unfolds, despair and insecurity often overwhelm whatever feelings of success he might have enjoyed. These days, he's grateful that Barbara Porter, his wife of almost 30 years, stuck by him through thick and thin.
"My wife is a super-private person," says Springfield, who was on the phone last week to promote his new book. "She probably would have been better off if she'd married somebody from the FBI, where everything is a secret, you know? But she married a public person who writes about his life. All my songs are about my life. A lot of them are about her ..."
Springfield's book doesn't spare the details of his sexual escapades, among other revelations, so his wife's patience notwithstanding, he almost didn't publish it.
"I was a little trepidatious for sure. I enjoyed writing it, and was into the whole thing of making it the best I could make it. It was fun reliving some of the stuff and feeling I was actually close to nailing my thoughts, but then when it was all done, and I sat back and thought about it, I actually called my publisher and said, 'I don't want this book to come out.' "
Luckily, Springfield changed his mind.
Anyone who knows every word to Jessie's Girl -- the song Rolling Stone says is the No. 1 global karaoke pick -- knows Rick Springfield, a rock star who sold 17 million albums while simultaneously attracting another audience of millions with his acting career.
It's hard to believe that it's the same Springfield who says his depression messed him up worse than any drug habit might have. "I wasn't a drug guy, per se," he says, "but I damaged myself with all the depression and all the sexual issues. I put myself through the wringer. I didn't have to stick a needle in my arm to do it--"¹ it was already inside me."
But there's a happy ending. Although he once had to put his career on hold to deal with his demons, Springfield is still gainfully employed in his double career -- as anyone who heard Venus in Overdrive or saw Springfield on Californication knows well.
And he intends to keep writing, both books and songs.
"I want to write a new album by the end of the year," he says. "I miss music. I love it all. It's all part of the same animal, as far as I'm concerned."
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