A New Documentary Shows the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson as He’s Never Been Seen Before

Brian has struggled with mental illness since he was a young man, and it wasn’t properly diagnosed until he was in his late 50s or early 60s. With the help of his current wife, Melinda—they got married in 1996—he began getting real treatment for the first time in his life in a consistent way. His illness is called schizoaffective disorder, and it’s quite serious—it’s marked by auditory hallucinations and periods of cyclical depression.

At one point in the film, Brian says, about you, “Man—I haven’t had a real friend in three years…until you came along.” He meant someone just to shoot the breeze with and drive around. What was it that brought you guys close?

We definitely have a similar sense of humor. I’m also from Southern California. We’ve related a lot about our fathers—his whole story with his father and missing his father and missing family members. I’ve had some loss, and I think that’s something we connect on as friends.

You also, briefly, tell the story of the first time you ever interviewed Brian, years ago.

Yeah. It was at his house in Beverly Hills, and I was terrified. We sat down in his living room and talked for about 15 minutes, and it wasn’t going very well, and then he just bolted up and left. I didn’t really know what to do—there’s no one around; I vaguely hear a vacuum cleaner somewhere in the distance. What was I supposed to do now—leave? Wait? I stuck around for a little while and then just thought I’d look around and see if I could find him—and I found him in the kitchen peering into the refrigerator. And I said, “Brian—what happened?”

And he said, “Oh—I’m sorry…I just got a little scared.”

And I said, “What’d you get scared about?”

And he said, “Well, sometimes things just scare me.”

I said, “Like what?”

And he said, “You know that Doobie Brothers song ‘What a Fool Believes’? Scares the hell out of me.”

And in that moment, I just thought: All right. Understood. This is not going to be a linear conversation. And from that, we just built up a kind of friendship. We spent a lot of time listening to music, eating, and talking. Brian grew up an athlete in Southern California with two brothers and a cousin and a band, and he likes hanging out. He likes the camaraderie. He’s got a big family and a great band, but when he’s home and he’s off tour, he’s pretty isolated.