Adam Ant

DIAGNOSED IN THE U.S WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER AFTER A SECOND BREAKDOWN, HE WAS SECTIONED AFTER AN ‘AFFRAY’ IN A PUB IN CAMDEN.

Adam Ant in the Guardian: ‘I was in a very bad state of mind. But you don’t walk into a doctor’s surgery and say I’m nuts – and if you do they just fill you with antide- pressants which just turn you into a Tellytubby. Antidepressants are very good, but it’s a clinical cosh really. Sometimes you have to be knocked out, just to stop; when you’re in that state all you want to do is sleep, and rest your body and your brain. But being on anti- depressants, if you’re not careful you can just be sitting on the couch looking at daytime TV, eating and doing nothing at all. ‘ Which is pretty much what he did for the next four years. ‘ And I didn’t enjoy it at all’.

He talks quite openly about his mental illness, but seems unresolved about medication; he knows he’s not well, but the drugs that stabilize the mind also anaesthetize his creativity, and if that is the price he must pay for sanity, he’s not sure if its worth it. When I ask if he’s taking medication at the moment, he pauses before answering. ’No. But I can if I want to, if I have the warning signs,a nd I know the warning signs, I can go and get them.’

What would be a familiar warning sign? ‘Well, the trouble is, when you look at the list: sexual promiscuity, spending loads of money, flamboyant behaviour – well that describes every rock star I can think of. That comes with my profession. So it’s very difficult to know.’