FLIGHT RISKS TURNED WENTZ INTO AN AIRPORT WRECK
FALL OUT BOY rocker PETE WENTZ was once so strung up about terrorism he would try to befriend ’suspicious’ passengers on plane flights to make sure they weren’t planning to take him hostage or blow up the aircraft.
The bassist’s airport anxiety lasted for months after an accidental overdose of powerful anxiolytic Avitan in 2005 left him near death - and his father had to chaperon him on flights in an effort to calm his nerves.
Wentz, who still has to pop Xanax pills to control his emotions in airports, admits little details would leave him fearing the worst about flights he was about to board.
He explains, "There was a time where I couldn’t fly. I wouldn’t get on a plane. If I saw a plane crash on the news, it meant my flight would crash the next day… If I was on the same flight as the rest of the band, it meant the plane would crash.
"If I saw people who were flying without a lot of luggage, I would decide they were terrorists… I’d walk over and say, ‘Hey, did we go to school together?’ to try to get them to tell me what they were doing." Wentz’s flying fears escalated quickly and forced him into therapy to save the band - and his sanity.
He adds, "Anxiety generalises really fast, and soon after that I couldn’t ride in the tour bus, couldn’t go on elevators. It was heading towards agoraphobia."
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
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