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Corey Taylor has been vulnerable about his mental health recently. After abruptly canceling his North American solo tour just weeks after announcing the shows, the Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman explained that the decision was made because he "needed time to start working on my heart and my mind and get straight," admitting he nearly relapsed despite being sober since 2010.
In a new interview, Taylor opened up about his past traumas, including being sexually and physically abused in his youth, and shared what he would say to his teenage self if given the opportunity. "I would tell my teenage self that the anger that he has, he doesn't necessarily need to feel guilty about it," he said. "And it's not his fault. Because there's an internalization that comes from survivor's guilt. And from people who have dealt with physical and sexual abuse, which I've experienced both."
"It's a natural place to lash out, you know, it's the scalded dog, basically, there's still a very kind animal in there. But until you get past those layers, it's hard to connect. And it's hard to kind of promote that," he added. "And when I was a teenager, the only thing I cared about was my hostility and being numb. Because I would rather... I was either going to be numb or be dead, you know. And it didn't matter what was going to come next."
"So I would first of all grab myself and hug him. And just tell him that it's OK that there are people who are going to help you someday," Taylor said. "And you're going to have a better understanding of what happened. And you just need to get through it."
Slipknot has a European and UK tour scheduled this year, as well as a handful of US festival appearances, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut self-titled album.