‘Late Show
” host David Letterman, who rarely gives interviews, revealed yesterday that he suffers from depression, and that initially he didn’t want to be medicated for his condition.
He was diagnosed about 20 years ago, he says, but changed his mind about anti-depressants after battling shingles in 2003.
“I thought it would make me loopy, or make me hallucinate, or make me drowsy,” Letterman said
But that all changed after he was treated for the painful viral skin eruptions.
“Part of the concoction of drugs they give you to fight that [shingles] pain are pretty serious, and I got tired of taking them,” he said. “I stopped taking them. Part of that created in me this nervous anxiety, and that’s when I was really screwed.
“So I said to [my doctor], I’ll try anything to get rid of this depression.”
Letterman also became a father in 2003 with the birth of son Harry. (Mom is Letterman’s wife, Regina Lasko — the couple wed in 2009).
“As difficult as being a father is, it’s entirely complementary with everything else in your life,” Letterman said, adding that he put off being a dad because he was focused on his talk show.
“I just thought that I can’t do both. I can’t try to have a successful television show and be a father,” he said. “And I was wrong about that.”