Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesPete Wentz is getting candid about his mental health struggles.
The Fall Out Boy bassist sat down with Howard Stern for a revealing interview on Tuesday, during which he opened up about the demise of his marriage to former wife Ashlee Simpson Ross as well as his own personal battle with bipolar disorder.
"I think I went through when I was in my 20s… I went through a lot of highs and lows," the 35-year-old father of two said of the manic-depressive disorder, which he was diagnosed with later in life. "For me… you're traveling on the road. Everything is available to you and you can get what you need to get, or not… People just want to keep the machine going. They don't so much care how healthy you are."
After years of self-medicating, the musician revealed that his six-year-old son helped him to take control of his life, calling kids "the ultimate happy pill."
Still, the father of two, who welcomed a baby boy with girlfriend Megan Camper in August, admitted he fears that son Bronx may one day suffer from bipolar disorder, too.
"Yeah, that's one of the things I've worried about," he revealed before describing the effects of the disorder and how he's able to manage it. "My highs, my happiness are really high and my lows are very low and I'm not able to regulate between the two. Through actual therapy and having kids it's way more under control and something I can see when I'm on the roller coaster and control it more."
Wentz also acknowledged that great artistry has come out of his ups and downs, noting that he has previously used writing as form of therapy.
"Sometimes writing has helped with where I was at in my head… When I'm talking to kids [I always tell them] 'you never know how you're going to feel the next day. Tomorrow might be the best day,'" he said. "It's hard. Sometimes when you get so dark it's hard to see that there could be any light at the end of the tunnel."