Method Man revealed details about his past that some may not know. During his rise to fame in the 90s as a Wu-Tang founding member and sex symbol was met with depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.
“I was just being irresponsible, with many things coming back to bite me all at once. I wasn’t taking care of my finances in a proper fashion. The admiration wasn’t the same. I didn’t think it would bother me that much, but it did—people’s opinions. I was just angry. It went from this childhood joy to this euphoric feeling of celebrity to feeling inadequate and not good enough. That’s where the depression and stuff came in,” the 52-year-old icon told Men’s Health about battling depression.
“I didn’t even know I had been depressed since I was a youngster before I started doing music and moved to Staten Island. A lot of PTSD I had never dealt with before started resurfacing, but I didn’t know what it was then. In hindsight, you delve deeper into your psyche and see where certain things come from. I just wasn’t a happy person. It reached a point where misery was loving company, and the people around me were just as miserable. So, it kind of fits. Then I got tired of it and did not want to be around miserable people anymore. I just wanted to see light. I wanted everything light. Forget the darkness. What can I create for myself? It had nothing to do with finances. It had nothing to do with other people. It was just me. What can I control? That’s what I did; I took control after that. I stopped valuing other people’s opinions, and instead of being my biggest critic, I became my biggest fan.”
Method said his health was not at the forefront during his rise. He was busy traveling, promoting his album, performing, and living an unhealthy lifestyle.
“It wasn’t at all, whatsoever. Wake up, smoke, hit the streets, regular shit, whatever the day called for that day. One thing they don’t do during your promo is give you time to do shit like activities for the gym or stuff like that. Nah, they shuttle you from one place to the next. You get fast food all day. But we were young, so metabolism helped, and none of that stuff stuck,” he said when asked how important health was to him at the beginning of his career.
When his Wu-Tang brother Ghostface Killah was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes during the time African Americans were more than twice as likely to have it compared to their white counterparts, Method Man had an awakening, according to the publication.
“Ghostface was the first guy that was really on this fitness shit. A lot of it had to do with his illness.”
The rapper eventually took hold of his life and went sober by focusing more on his health, which included treating his 18-month battle with insomnia with late-night gym sessions and a combo of protein shakes and cannabis in the morning. He says the change in his lifestyle helped him earn the steady acting career he now has and made him a better lyricist.
Method Man applauds and respects other hip-hop artists who prioritize their diets and exercise regime, but he emphasizes it’s nothing new.
“There was a transition in hip-hop: They shut Public Enemy out; they shut KRS-One out. They shut out all these dudes: Jungle Brothers, Native Tongues. Black pride was shut out and traded for … hardcore hip-hop. Mindless thug music,” the hip-hop legend told the outlet.
The rapper added that self-love got him to where he is now. “Self-love: looking at yourself in the mirror and honestly saying that you love yourself,” he said. “What people see now is just happiness.”
As for being a sex symbol, Method begs to differ. “I’m not a sex symbol. That’s the whole f****** point, man. Put the words together. Sex and symbol. What’s the symbol? I’m not doing anything. So what’s the symbol?”
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