Klas Bergling sat down with Sirius XM‘s Geronimo this week, offering a transparent viewpoint of the highest of highs and lowest of lows that make up Avicii‘s iconic legacy. The interview, which aired as part of BPM’s Avicii Birthday Tribute for Mental Health Awareness, touches on the Swedish musician’s stardom, the consuming nature of the music industry, and the stark reality that the even amid signs of struggle, Avicii’s family found themselves unable to help. Says Bergling,
“Mental illness is often connected with depression. You can see it and you feel it and you can almost say that this person needs help. Tim didn’t show those signs too [officially.] We stopped him twice together with his management, but that was later, and of course we were very worried in the family many times.”
He continues,
“You may wonder, why didn’t you do anything? We did a lot of things. That’s for sure. Tim was a grown up. That’s something which is important to see also, he took his own decisions. We couldn’t lock him in. That’s not the way you can handle things. He was constantly producing also, so it’s a strange situation. When you see it now with another perspective, it may be easy to say of course we should have stopped him, but we did stop him.”
The interview took place during Sirius XM’s week-long mental health awareness takeover, an event that happened through a partnership with the Tim Bergling Foundation. It will be rebroadcast Friday, September 11 at 3:00 p.m. EST and Sunday, September 13 at 2:00 p.m. EST, but can also be seen on demand through the SiriuxSM App. Watch select clips below.
H/T: Billboard
Featured image: Sean Eriksson
