Production Live! Coverage 2020: Dave Navarro Talks Addiction, Depression

The frank discussion was part of a session entitled “Even Superman Gets the Blues: Stay Clean Healthy and Strong as a Road Warrior,” which also featured Michael Des Barres, on-air talent at SiriusXM; Harold Owens, senior director at MusiCares; and Lyn Morris, senior vice president, clinical operations at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services.

Navarro, also a former member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers who has been a touring musician since the 1980s, said he has been “a big-time junkie” who shot up a lot of heroin, cocaine “and stuff that wasn’t either.” He also said he is “a longtime sufferer of depression.”

“I have gotten to a place with it where I am speaking out about it because I want the people who are in my orbit to know that it’s OK to have this. It’s OK to share about it. It’s OK to not have shame about it. Shame is the thing that kills people. Shame is the thing that keeps bottled up inside us. We don’t want to be judged. We don’t want to hurt more. We’re afraid of everything. The shame locks it up,” he said. 

“So what I want to do is strip the shame from this thing and I want to find a way to not only embrace the things that we have, but to feel proud of it almost, in a strange way. I’ll put it to you this way, I’ve been given depression I’ve also been given a creative mind. I’ve been given addiction, but I’ve also been given great people. So there’s a give and a take and everybody has something. Everybody does.”

 

“Look at obesity in America. Where do you think that comes from? That’s trauma,” Navarro said. “This whole country is traumatized.”

Navarro, who revealed he was on the brink of suicide a few years ago and even wrote a goodbye note to friends and loved ones, said he has found mental health resources for himself and now shares with others who are suffering where they too can find help. 

Des Barres explained that for the last few years MusiCares has been trying to extend its mission of mental health and suicide prevention beyond musicians to include road crews, “the people who put that show on.”

Owens said people think MusiCares is only for top-line stars and the musicians themselves, “But for me my heart always has gone out to the touring industry, how we can help, soup to nuts here,” he said.

MusiCares can secure treatment and funding for those who need help, Owens said, adding that depression and suicide are topics that are coming to the fore.

“We want to stay on top of it. We’ve got to get in front of it. You’ve got to lean into it and you’ve got to ask the questions, what do you do when your artist, when your crew guy’s in trouble,” Owens said. ~What do you need to do. That’s what I’m hoping we are here for.”

Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services is based in Culver City, Calif., but has 10 sites in Los Angeles and the first National Suicide Prevention Center, Morris said.

“We have seen an increase of calls on our National Suicide Prevention Lifeline,” with over 100,000 in the last year, she said. “So more and more people are reaching out for help, which is a good thing, because we want to reach people before they get into that crisis and before they are in the depths of depression.”

She said middle schoolers and teenagers are talking about suicide and are learning how to ask their friends if they are OK when they appear to be in emotional pain.

“We as adults need to do more of that and take care of each other, because we need to create a community, we need to create a safety net,” she said.

If middle schoolers can find the courage to ask someone if they are contemplating suicide, then adults need to learn how be comfortable asking the question as well, Morris said.

Navarro, 53, said he has been dealing with depression and addiction for 40 years and that later in life, when he was touring, being in a band was like having two families, and both were dysfunctional.

“Having had help has given me the opportunity to understand my depression, understand that it’s a momentary thing,” he said. “It’s not forever.”

Asking for help is not a shameful thing to do, he said.

Added Morris: “People who are suicidal don’t necessarily want to die, they just want to end the pain that they are in.”

“It’s hard to reach out for help sometimes when people are in that despair so that’s why we all have to take care of each other,” she said. “Suicide is everybody’s business, it impacts everybody. And to be able to ask and show care toward someone can mean a lot. It can save a life.”

Navarro said that when he was in a hotel room ready to end it all, he would have done anything for someone to come through the door and save him.

“I just didn’t want to ask,” he said.

During round of questions from the audience, one person noted that people might not seek help because they are afraid of losing their gig, but he challenged those in the industry to step up to the plate and stick with people who seek help for their mental health and/or addiction issues, asking them to keep an open mind and an open hand.

“It starts with everyone in this room,” he said.

Help can be a phone call away. Anyone who is contemplating suicide or knows someone who might be can call the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services 24-hour Crisis Line at 800-273-8255.