Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden recently spoke to the corruption that can come with celebrity fame. While on the Psycho Schizo Espresso podcast, Dickinson spoke with that of Dr. Kevin Dutton about how some celebrities can use their fame to abuse and manipulate others.
Specifically, Bruce talks about being on the road and rockers hooking up with women; he goes on to talk about people like Harvey Weinstein and R. Kelly, and how scary it is to realize when, in his words, “You can actually kind of click your fingers and make things happen.” This is everything Dickinson had to say (as transcribed by Metal Injection):
“We toured with bands who were [involved with multiple partners on tour], and they’d look at us like we were just weird. Yeah, obviously, we all had girlfriends, and sometimes you had girlfriends who were temporary girlfriends. [Laughs] But I don’t like it when there’s this undercurrent of abuse. It was [The Who’s] Pete Townshend, who knows a bit about abuse, I think, because he underwent quite a lot of it, and he said — and it clicked for me — he said, ‘The big moment is when you realize that you can manipulate people because of who you are.’
“Because when you first start out, you don’t have any realization that people might want to sleep with you because you’re onstage. You think they want to sleep with you because they want to sleep with you, because it might be nice and because they like you. And often that’s true — it’s often that it’s true… And yes, there are some people that want you as a notch on the bedpost, just as some guys have that [same thing] with women, and, yeah, we’ve all been guilty of it, no doubt.
“But there comes a point, which is incredibly corrupting and corrosive, in which you suddenly go, ‘Hang on a minute. You can actually kind of click your fingers and make things happen.’ And that’s a really scary moment, to realize that that power exists. And that’s why the Harvey Weinstein’s and all the rest of it, and the whole Hollywood thing… So that awareness of that, that’s when it becomes really corrupting. I mean, the guy… What’s his name? R. Kelly, who’s been indicted, been convicted, I think. It’s the same thing for actors as well… And then when you throw in a bucket of mood-altering drugs into the equation, then the wheels really come off the bus.”
These are very important points for folks to keep in mind. You can check out the full conversation featuring Bruce Dickinson below.