B. WILSON: 19 — mid 70s.
KING: Marilyn, your first wife?
B. WILSON: Yes.
M. WILSON: His first wife. Because Brian was kind of out of control. And then again in the early '80s the Beach Boys hired Dr. Landy. I don't even want to call him Dr. Landy.
KING: Now what did he do that so changed Brian? He was called in to help and it turned out worse, right?
M. WILSON: He was called into help and I think originally he did help. He helped Brian lose weight and he helped Brian care about himself physically again, but then, as time went on, he became very captive of Brian — or Brian was primarily a prisoner...
B. WILSON: I wasn't allowed to call my family or my friends at all for nine years.
KING: He had that much control?
B. WILSON: Yes, he had that much control of my life, yes. He doped me up with medication. He kept me doped so I couldn't resist what he told me to do.
KING: For what purpose, Brian?
B. WILSON: He was a control freak. He gets off on controlling.
Landy=bad.
- KING: Did you suffer from depression, Brian?
B. WILSON: Did I suffer from depression? Yes, a little, from time to time. Yes.
KING: Did it occur while the Beach Boys were No. 1?
B. WILSON: Yes. It occurred then. Yes, it did. Then it occurred later in the '90s, a little bit in the '90s. 2000s, I'm not as depressed as I was. I get depressed now and then but not very much anymore.
M. WILSON: Actually, depression is something that if you have it it never really goes away.
KING: It's treatable.
M. WILSON: It's treatable.
B. WILSON: It's been minimized — my medicine has minimized it. Right, been minimized?
M. WILSON: It's absolutely been minimized.
KING: At the height of it, though...
M. WILSON: At the height of it it was just God-awful. It was really bad.
KING: Contemplating ending your own life?
B. WILSON: No — well, a couple times I had those thoughts, but I never got serious about it — I never got serious.
KING: What attracted — you were stepping in — did you ever feel, Melinda, you were stepping into a minefield? I mean, you meet a guy with enormous talent and enormous problems.
M. WILSON: Actually, Dr. Landy is the one that introduced us.
KING: Really?
M. WILSON: Yes, we just — he could probably kill himself now for it but he brought Brian into an automobile dealership that I was working at at the time for Brian to buy a car.
Article comments
1 - Emily
Great post, Eric! FYI, California has recently granted permission to mark the childhood home of the Wilsons in Hawthorne, CA an official state landmark, even though the home was dozed over a decade ago to make way for the 105 freeway.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Emily, I really appreciate the kind words and that's great news about the Hawthorne home and its famous garage, which no longer exist
3 - Eric Olsen
Update - a mini-film about the making of Smile is now available above, check it out.
4 - riley moriarty
There was talk that a recording of the smiLE concert from carnegie hall 10/12 or 13 may be available through NonSuch Records. Do you have any information on that?
5 - Eric Olsen
Riley, I don't see anything about it yet on Brian's site