Meat Loaf’s father tried to kill him using a butcher knife.
The 68-year-old singer and actor has revealed that his alcoholic father tried to stab him to death during his younger years – but credits such incidents with having helped him in his career.
The American entertainer – whose real name is Michael Aday – explained: "My mother died young, of cancer. My father was an alcoholic, and coping with him, that’s really how I learned to act. But I love my father, I’ve forgiven my father. He tried to kill me with a butcher knife but all of that is just life. Alcoholism is a disease. You deal with it, you go on, you don’t hold grudges."
Meat Loaf has enjoyed considerable success on the movie screen and as a musician. However, he has always considered himself to be an actor who sings, not the other way around.
He told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper: "You never see Meat Loaf, the one that’s talking to you, on that stage. And on any record I’ve ever done, you’ve never heard Meat Loaf sing a song.
"They’ve all been characters. Every time. I don’t even think I threw the shot putt in high school as Meat Loaf. I don’t think I could have thrown past twenty feet if I hadn’t been in character. The only time I don’t take on a persona is when I’m being interviewed."
Asked why that is, he added: "It wouldn’t be interesting to me. It has no value."
Meat Loaf: My father tried to kill me
