Rick Springfield is dealing with the effects of a bad fall he had 25 years ago.
The “Jessie’s Girl” singer, 75, revealed to People that a recent full-body MRI scan showed he has brain damage from falling during a Las Vegas performance in 2000.
“I fell 25 feet, hit my head and then wood came down and hit my head, and then my head hit the stage again,” he said. “I thought I had just broken my wrist, but on the scan I found out I have some brain damage from the fall, so I’m working on trying to repair that.”
Springfield told the outlet that he’s not someone who doesn’t “want to know what’s wrong with them,” though his father was.
“My dad died from not wanting to know,” Springfield said. “He thought he had stomach cancer for years and never got it checked out. When he finally collapsed one day at home, they found out it was an ulcer that burst, and he died from the loss of blood. It could have been fixed if he had gotten it checked out.”
He continued, “That was a giant message to me: If you want to live long, you have to be prepared for some bad news now and then. I could find out I have terminal cancer tomorrow and be dead in a year, but I can only do all I can do.”
To support his health, Springfield told People that he exercises every day — even while on the road with his band — and focuses on maintaining an anti-inflammatory diet.
“I’ll have meat now and then if I feel like (I’m) feeling a little weak, but I don’t eat dairy or anything like that. I’m on a big anti-inflammation kick,” he said in an interview published Feb. 28.
Springfield noted in the same interview that he has cut back on alcohol in the past couple years.
“I’m not (in) AA — I mean, I know a lot of people it’s worked for. I’ll have a couple of sips of vodka or something when I’m on stage, but I don’t drink any other time,” he said.
At 75, Springfield told the outlet that he’s not afraid of death, “you’ve got to embrace it.”
“It’s not a death wish by any stretch,” he said. “But it’s important to be aware of it. I think I have a better handle on dying than I used to. I’ve faced it a couple of times, but my heart still jumps into my mouth when the plane drops. I’m not as evolved as I like to think. You can only put on the party dress, but what happens at the party is up to the gods.”
TODAY.com reached out to Rick Springfield for comment.
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