DMC.Photo:Noam Galai/Getty
Noam Galai/Getty
Run-DMCwas one of the highest-selling hip-hop groups of the ’80s, butDarryl “DMC” McDanielscouldn’t cope with the fame at that time.
In Run-DMC’s newly-released Peacock documentary,Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story, DMC opens up about struggling with celebrity, dealing with substance abuse and being on the brink of taking his own life.
Speaking to PEOPLE about why he wanted to go public with his mental health struggles, DMC, 59, says that showing fans that he’s vulnerable “isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength.”
“When you see us after the concert, when the record’s out, when we’re doing the shows and on the radio and the videos, you don’t understand. You’re seeing results, you don’t see the process,” he explains.
Now, DMC says he doesn’t hold back his emotions “when I’m scared, confused, and afraid.”
Run-DMC.Bob Berg/Getty Images
Bob Berg/Getty Images
“When I tell my truth, I am given everything necessary for me to overcome it. If I hold it in, it will destroy me,” he explains.
DMC says he was in a very dark place after the murder of Jam Master Jay in 2002 and was actually considering suicide. Then one day he was riding in a cab when he heard Sarah McLachlan’s ballad “Angel.”
“There was no feelings on the earth that I could relate to that would make me say, ‘It’s going to be all right’ — until on the radio station, I heard that piano, and then I heard that voice saying, ‘In the arms of an angel/Fly away…,” he sings.
“Something in my spirit said, ‘D, it’s f—ed up right now. Life is traumatic. It feels like the world is ending, but as long as something that sounds like this exists, maybe I can stay here another day.'”
Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Storyis available to stream now.
source: people.com
