Axl Rose

Axl Rose was born William Bruce Rose Jr. in Lafayette, Indiana, the eldest child of Sharon Elizabeth (née Lintner), then 16, and William Bruce Rose, age 20. His father has been described as "a troubled and charismatic local delinquent," and the pregnancy was unplanned. The couple separated when Rose was around two years old. His father abducted and allegedly molested him before disappearing from Lafayette. Rose's mother later married Stephen L. Bailey and changed her son's name to William Bruce Bailey. He has two younger siblings: a sister, Amy, and a half-brother, Stuart. Stuart Bailey later played guitar in several Los Angeles bands and worked as a music supervisor in Hollywood. Until age 17, Rose believed Bailey was his biological father. He never met William Rose Sr. as an adult; Rose Sr. was murdered in 1984 in Marion, Illinois, by a criminal acquaintance. Rose learned of the murder years later. Rose accused his stepfather of physically abusing the family and sexually abusing his sister. The Bailey household was deeply religious. Rose attended a Pentecostal church multiple times per week and taught Sunday school. He later described the environment as oppressive, recalling: "We'd have televisions one week, then my stepdad would throw them out because they were Satanic... Women were evil. Everything was evil". Music became a refuge. …

During his late teens, Rose was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a psychiatrist interpreted his delinquent behavior as evidence of psychosis. The same evaluation noted his high IQ. Rose later questioned the diagnosis, stating in an interview that it was based solely on a standardized test: "All of a sudden I'm diagnosed manic-depressive... The medication doesn't help me deal with stress. The only thing it does is help keep people off my back". Despite his volatile public image, Rose was not a habitual drug user, though he occasionally experimented. In 1986, he intentionally overdosed on painkillers during a period of stress, later recalling: "I just grabbed the bottle of pills in an argument and just gulped them down... I ended up in the hospital." The experience inspired the lyrics to "Coma". In the early 1990s, Rose embraced homeopathic medicine and began undergoing past life regression therapy. He publicly shared memories of being sexually abused by his biological father at age two, which he said stunted his emotional development: "When they talk about Axl Rose being a screaming two-year-old, they're right". He attributed recurring health issues to psychosomatic "self-punishment", and during the Chinese Democracy sessions, employed a psychic to evaluate potential hires by reading their auras. …