Growing Up Munsch: Robert Munsch’s Books, Drugs and Recovery
Introduction
Growing Up Munsch explores the life of one of Canada's most beloved children's authors. Best known for classics such as Love You Forever and The Paper Bag Princess, Robert Munsch has sold more than 40 million books worldwide and has become a familiar name in Canadian households. In this 2010 interview, he publicly reflects on his lifelong struggles with mental illness, alcohol and cocaine addiction, and the experiences that shaped both his writing and his life.
Munsch discusses his childhood, time studying for the priesthood, marriage, family life, and the devastating personal losses that contributed to his addiction. He also explains how bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder affected his life, why he eventually sought help through Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, and how many of his best-known stories were inspired by real children and personal experiences. Together, these reflections offer a rare look at the man behind some of Canada's most cherished books.
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Quotes
"I remember saying to myself when I was a kid, I'm not happy … everybody says that kids are happy but I'm not happy. And that got worse and worse as I grew up … I decided that feelings didn't matter because my feelings didn't relate. If I was feeling suicidal that day, that was just me. If I was feeling happy that day, that was just me too. So, I started to ignore my feelings."
"His salvation lied inside the imagination of the children and the stories that would eventually make him famous. Telling stories and performing for kids has always been what Munsch does best and his unique ability to tell a story slowly moved Munsch from the darkness into light and he found his true calling."
"When most people read the story [Purple, Green and Yellow), it's a funny story about a kid who colours herself. But for me, it's how you deal with life when you have to make yourself appear human to walk out the door."
"For four years, Robert Munsch secretly drank, unknown to his wife, his friends and his co-workers. And during that same time, he and his wife suffered unbearable tragedies."
"I discovered I couldn't tell stories when I was drinking. I couldn't do shows when I was drinking. I couldn't write when I was drinking. The discipline of writing kept my drinking to the edges of my life."
"The paradox of Robert's double life is reflected in his zany characters and stories. His books tell funny stories that tackle subjects that aren't funny at all."
"My public person was so crazy, and my private person was depressed and unhappy. As an alcoholic, I was unhappy about all sorts of things that were actually the alcohol … when I was drinking, I would sometimes drink too much and do stupid things and one of the stupid things I did was cocaine."
"I know other people who have bipolar and have problems with alcohol and cocaine. They're called dual addicted, dual diagnosis. It's a particular thing because you have to keep the bipolar stuff just under control, or your whole life you'll go into moods then you'll use drugs then you'll get worse."
"The family believes their struggles can best be related to one of Munsch's more controversial books, Good Families Don't. It's about a little girl named Carmen who tries to battle a taboo subject, and her parents don't believe her … They have this problem in their house and nobody wants to admit that it's there, but they can't deal with it until they admit that it's there."
"Therapy helped me to have emotions again, that emotions are okay, that emotions are good, that I'm taking pills now and if I'm unhappy about something I'm really unhappy, it's not an artifact of my brain."
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