He Hid His Depression
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Although he was a massively talented artist who had found his calling early on, Rockwell’s life was far from perfect. Mary, his second wife, suffered from alcoholism and depression. When they left Vermont, the couple and their family moved to Stockbridge so Mary could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center in Massachusetts.
Rockwell himself struggled with depression and anxiety too. He told his psychiatrist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. “I paint life like I like it to be,” he said. Rockwell racked up an enormous tab with his psychiatrist, the famed Erik Erikson, and paid it off by painting advertisements for brands.
