Neil Diamond – The Darkness He Faced and the Music That Saved Him
With decades of hits and millions of fans, Neil Diamond has always seemed larger than life — confident, energetic, unstoppable. But behind the glittering spotlight lay a period few people ever saw: a long struggle with depression, loneliness, and self-doubt — a battle he fought quietly, using music as his only medicine.
The Loneliness Behind the Applause
After two failed marriages and years of relentless touring, Diamond began to feel something slipping away. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he admitted that after his divorce from his second wife, Marcia Murphey, he sank into what he called “a spiritual emptiness.”
“I was used to someone waiting for me after every show,” he said. “When that stopped, I realized how alone I really was.”
The career went on — but inside, he was fading. “I was very good at pretending everything was fine,” he confessed.
Fame Couldn’t Save Him
Through the 1980s and 1990s, Diamond’s career soared with hits like “Heartlight” and “I’m a Believer.” Yet emotionally, he was unraveling.
“There were times I wanted to disappear,” he told CBS News. “People think my songs are happy, but most of them come from pain.”
One of his most personal songs, “I Am… I Said,” was written during therapy sessions. “I didn’t feel I belonged anywhere,” he explained. The lyrics — “I am… I said / To no one there / And no one heard at all / Not even the chair” — became his rawest self-portrait.
Music as Therapy
For Neil Diamond, writing was survival. “I never turned to alcohol or pills,” he said. “I turned to my guitar.”
Through songwriting, he processed grief, heartbreak, and uncertainty. Songs like “Hello Again,” “Love on the Rocks,” and “Song Sung Blue” were written during these turbulent years — each one a reflection of pain transformed into art.
“I realized sadness can be beautiful,” he told People. “Writing kept me alive.”
When the Darkness Returned — Parkinson’s Diagnosis
In 2018, Diamond stunned the world by announcing his retirement from touring due to Parkinson’s disease. It was another confrontation with vulnerability — but this time, he chose acceptance over denial.
“At first, I was angry,” he said in his CBS Sunday Morning interview. “Then I learned to make peace with it. You can’t fight what you can’t control.”
He continued writing, recording, and mentoring others. The silence after the spotlight became a new kind of peace — not loss, but reflection.
The Spirit That Refuses to Fade
At 83, Neil Diamond no longer performs live, but he still writes. “I may not sing like I used to,” he said, “but music still sings in me. It’s in my blood.”
Watching the Broadway musical A Beautiful Noise, based on his life, he described it as “facing my past — the light and the shadows — and realizing I’m okay with both.”
Conclusion:
Neil Diamond once said, “Music never left me — even when I left everything else.” That is why he endures: not as an untouchable legend, but as a man who fell, healed, and learned to live again through the sound of his own heart.