How Drug Casualty Brian Wilson Was So Fragile Before Death He Was 'Absolutely Impossible' to Interview
Brian Wilson was 'impossible' to interview before his death because he had become so 'fragile,' according to a British journalist.
June 12 2025, Published 1:07 p.m. ET
Late Beach Boys star Brian Wilson was so fragile before his death he was deemed "absolutely impossible" to interview.
RadarOnline.com can reveal a journalist who interviewed the music icon claims he struggled to put interviewers "at ease" because of his frailness, potentially triggered by years of substance abuse.
Ravaged By Drugs
The Beach Boys frontman 'didn't know how to put interviewers at ease' because of his frailness.
Describing what it was like being in the company of the Good Vibrations hitmaker, a British music journalist said: "Interviewing Brian Wilson was an impossible experience. Unlike most other musical superstars – say, Paul McCartney or Bono – Brian simply didn't know how to put an awed journalist at ease.
"It’s not that Brian Wilson was unfriendly. Indeed, there was an old-fashioned courteousness to his manner, calling me 'Sir' when I spoke to him to promote his comeback solo tour in 2002.
"But Brian, as virtually every journalist who met him would recount, was a fragile man to be around."
He added: "He seemed to enjoy talking to me and other reporters. I was ecstatic when he said: 'It's like we're making a record when we talk.' Yet he still answered most questions with a politely puzzled 'Yes,' 'I don’t know the answer to that' or 'I don’t think so.'"
The Beach Boys legend passed away on Wednesday at the age of 82.
He was suffering from dementia and reportedly struggled to remember the names of his own children.
Wilson's health struggles worsened following the death of his wife Melinda, pictured, in January.
The famed singer-songwriter's battle with dementia had grown so fierce over his last year of life that he was placed under round-the-clock care.
Wilson's family filed a petition in February 2024 to place him under a conservatorship following the death of his wife of 28 years Melinda, one month before.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, the conservatorship required "three full-time caregivers living at his house," as he was not allowed to live "anywhere other than his residence."
Dementia Robbed Final Years
Wilson's dementia had grown so fierce over his last year of life he was placed in round-the-clock care.
A lawyer appointed by the court to speak to the rocker at the time concluded in his assessment Wilson was "well oriented as to person, place and time, acknowledging and responding to his name, providing me with his date of birth, the time of day, and the current date, but was unable to give me the names of his children other than the names of the two daughters who live with him."
The report went on to say Wilson, who has seven children, was "mostly difficult to understand and gave very short responses to questions and comments."
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Wilson was 'difficult to understand and gave very short responses to questions and comments.'
It added about Wilson: "He said that he was not expecting my visit and when told that the court had appointed me to represent him in the court proceedings concerning the appointment of co-conservators of his person, he was confused as to the need for co-conservators.
"But (Wilson) confirmed that the petitioners have worked with him for years and clearly acknowledged they were his long time managers who he placed his trust in, and further said he would truth them to act in his best interests."
