Sir Mick Jagger has opened up about the psychological toll of fame, revealing how years spent performing at the highest level left him battling disassociation, ego overload and long‑lasting emotional fallout.
The Rolling Stones frontman, 82, said the extreme nature of his career shaped his behaviour and sense of identity in ways most people never experience.
He told The New York Times: “Obviously, it’s not normal.
“It is not like most people’s lives. It does affect you. You can become disassociated. From other people.”
Mick explained that many performers end up living in an industry bubble because “a lot of people in show business only hang around with people in show business, because they’ve got something in common… and you get disassociated from what people might call ‘real life’.”
Asked how he tries to stay grounded, he said the solution is surprisingly simple: “You go out and walk on the street on your own and do normal things, go and buy The New York Times.”
But even that, he admitted, only offers temporary relief.
He continued: “Nevertheless, that’s only temporary because psychologically your actual state of mind is permanently damaged.”
Mick says the 20s and early 30s are a particularly volatile period for rising stars.
He said: “It’s a very tough time for people in this business because it’s a big ego trip, and you have to have a huge ego to do this.”
Those without one, he said, often struggle to cope
He continued: “People that do this that don’t have huge egos have huge problems because they have to manufacture a completely different [personality].”
He even joked that his stage persona once spilled into everyday life.
Mick said: “I have a friend whose standing joke is that I behave at a dinner party like I behave onstage.”
But the Start Me Up hitmaker stressed that the larger‑than‑life character fans see is not the real him.
He said: “Of course I’m not really like my stage persona… it’s such an exaggerated version of me. This overbearing, shouting, ego‑tripping person — you’re not really like that.”
In his younger years, though, he admits he sometimes couldn’t switch it off.
He compared the phenomenon to method acting, where performers stay in character long after filming ends.
Mick said: “It takes a long time to slough off the character. So which character do you go back to?”
He added: “This is the show business dichotomy… and you always hope that you’re a so‑called normal person underneath.”