Rick Springfield Reveals He's Still Struggling With Depression and Recently Considered Suicide

Rick Springfield revealed he considered suicide as recently as last year.

The “Jessie’s Girl” singer, 68, opened up about his lifelong battle with depression in a new interview on SiriusXM’s Feedback, airing Thursday, and shared that he struggled with thoughts of suicide.

“Last year I was close to it, really close to it,” Springfield told host Lori Majewski about nearly ending his life.

“‘Suicide Manifesto’ is stuff I think about. I’ve been close to it,” he said about his forthcoming song from his new album, The Snake King. “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.”

Adding, “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.”

This isn’t the first time Springfield has discussed his suicide attempts. In his 2011 autobiography, Late, Late at Night, he opened up about the depression, which he calls The Darkness or “Mr. D,” he first suffered when he was 17, when he tried to commit suicide.

Luckily, the rope he used for a noose snapped.

“I tried. I don’t know how I survived it, but I survived the hanging,” Springfield told Majewski recalling the incident that happened nearly five decades ago.

“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.’ But now my kids are grown. It’s really weird … it would devastate them,” he said. “I don’t know how I could ever come to terms with that. But it rides on my shoulder every day.”

Springfield says he is taking steps to stay well.

“I’ve taken Prozac and all that kind of stuff and I meditate. Mediation is the only thing that takes me out of it. If I truly meditate and focus and get to that place, I’m not depressed. No matter what’s going on. But it’s pretty hard,” he shared.

“I’m alive and well. Anyone says, ‘How you doing?’ I never go, ‘Great.’ Because it’s bulls—. I go, ‘I’m okay — I’m there.’ Sometimes I’ll go, ‘F—— horrible, I’ve had a terrible day.’” Springfield said of talking to other people about his emotions.

“We’ve all had the social front and it just makes me feel like such a liar when I go home and I look in the mirror and I go, ‘Really, you said that to somebody? That everything’s great and you’re feeling awesome? That’s bulls—,’ ” he continued.

Adding, “I’m at the point now in my life where I want to do what’s truthful.”

The complete interview with Rick Springfield will air on Thursday, Jan. 11, on SiriusXM’s Volume channel 106, at 9:30 AM ET.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).