Earlier this year, Metallica frontman James Hetfield shared a vulnerable and touching moment with his bandmates and the crowd. Before performing “Sad But True,” Hetfield revealed he hadn’t been in the best of spirits prior to the gig. “So, I gotta tell you, I wasn’t feeling very good before I came out here,” Hetfield said. “(I was) Feeling a little bit insecure. ‘I’m an old guy. I can’t play anymore.’ All this bullsh*t that I tell myself in my head.”
Hetfield then motioned to his bandmates. “So, I talked to these guys, and they helped me. Simple as that. They gave me a hug. Said, ‘Hey, if you’re struggling on stage, we got your back.’ And I’ll tell you, that means the world to me.” After saying that, a visibly emotional Hetfield embraced the rest of the band to massive applause from the crowd. “And seeing you out there, I am not alone,” Hetfield added. “And neither are you.”
It appears that Hetfield’s relationship with his wife, Francesca, might have factored into how the legendary singer was feeling. According the TMZ, Hetfield and his wife of more than two decades have called it quits on their marriage. Sources close to Hetfield say that he filed for divorce in their home state of Colorado earlier this year.
The pair met in 1992 and had been married since 1997. Sources also say the two are in touch as they co-parent their daughters and son. In September of 2019, Hetfield briefly re-entered a treatment program to work on his recovery from alcohol addiction. Five years ago, the singer told Lazer 103.3 in Des Moines, Iowa, that he doesn’t read online comments from Metallica fans.
“I’ve got tons of friends that are either musicians or artists or someone who are creative and putting stuff out there,” he said. “I just tell ’em, ‘Don’t read the comments. I mean, just don’t. Unless you’re feeling a little more secure in yourself these days.’ Cause most of us artists are pretty fragile, insecure people, and we get up there and the music makes us feel strong and good. But other times when people… you know, someone says something about the lyrics, and it’s just, like, ‘Ouch! That went right in my heart, dude!’ So I tell you, when you read that stuff, you can’t believe it — you just can’t. Most people… It’s really easy just to hit ‘send’ [on your phone or computer] — I know that. But we also do get a lot of great comments out there that kind of work themselves out. It’s like throwing a couple of pitbulls in a room — they work it out. You don’t have to… Especially on the Metallica site, they have people… it goes back and forth. And as long as there’s passion, that’s all that matters, really.”
In 2017, Hetfield also told Joe Rogan about is initial stint in rehab 21 years ago and how he almost lost his family in the process. “Fear was a big motivator in that for me,” Hetfield said. “Losing my family, that was the thing that scared me so much. That was the bottom I hit, that my family is going to go away because of my behaviors that I brought home from the road. I got kicked out of my house by my wife; I was living on my own somewhere. I did not want that.”
“Maybe as part of my upbringing, my family kind of disintegrated when I was a kid. Father left, mother passed away, had to live with my brother, and then kind of just, where did my stuff go? It just kind of floated away, and I do not want that happening. No matter what’s going on, we’re going to talk this stuff out and make it work.”
He continued: “[My wife] did the right thing — she kicked my *ss right out of the house and that scared the sh*t out of me. She said, ‘Hey, you’re not just going to the therapist now and talking about this. You’ve got to go somewhere and sort this sh*t out.’ So that’s what I did… What worked for me was seven weeks someplace — like, basically tearing you down to bones, ripping your life apart. Anything you thought about yourself or what it was, anything you thought you had, your family, your career, anything, gone. Strip you down to just — you’re born. Here’s how you were when you were born — you were okay. You were a good person. Let’s get back to that again. Then they slowly rebuild you.”
- AEW Star Was Encouraged To Ask WWE For A Tryout - April 17, 2024
- Metallica’s James Hetfield Put Lemmy’s Ashes To Use In Touching Tribute - April 17, 2024
- Living Colour Frontman Shares How He Really Feels About “Cult Of Personality” - April 16, 2024