Foo Fighters legend Dave Grohl has opened up about feeling a “sense of shame” as a kid after he was diagnosed with a “crooked spine”.
According to The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column, Grohl said he “felt like an alien” due to the condition, but over time, learned to embrace being different to other kids.
“I’ve always felt like a bit of an alien, which obviously I learned to embrace over time. When diagnosed with a crooked spine at the age of seven, I had to begin wearing a small lift on my left shoe to slowly correct the problem.
Dave continued, “I felt a sense of shame at first as I wasn’t allowed to wear the cool sneakers other kids wore, but that later became a sort of empowerment. I was different and I liked it.
“I didn’t want to be like the other kids, as crooked as I was. I liked the feeling of being strange. I still do.”
It comes after Grohl had spoken out about the importance of discussing mental health, where he paid tribute to late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, who took their own lives in 2017.
“When it comes to someone like Chris Cornell or Chester, you know, depression is a disease, and everybody goes through it their own way … I just always immediately think of their families, their bandmates, and just … going through something like suicide, it’s a long road, and Chris was such a beautiful guy, man,” Grohl said.
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“He was the sweetest person. He was so talented. He had so much to offer that it was a real shock to hear that he had gone.
“But you know, I think that mental health and depression is something that people should really take seriously. There’s a stigma attached to it that’s unfortunate because just as you take care of yourselves in every other way, I think it’s important that people try and take care of themselves in that way, too. And it ain’t easy, you know? Life’s hard.”
For more on this topic, head over to the Classic Rock Observer.
