The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson credited Eugene Landy with saving his life amidst his battle with depression and substance abuse in the 1970s, but many say that Landy was far from a hero.
RedditBrian Wilson with his controversial psychologist, Eugene Landy.
Brian Wilson, the singer, songwriter, and producer behind The Beach Boys, said that psychotherapist Eugene Landy saved his life. With such a high-profile endorsement, Landy should have been one of the most lauded psychologists in modern American history. But this was just part of the story, and the broader picture would prove to be far more controversial.
As The Beach Boys’ musical genius gradually succumbed to depression and substance abuse, Landy stepped in with a radical, controversial solution: 24-hour therapy. This round-the-clock treatment blurred the lines between medical care and imprisonment, culminating in Landy transforming from Wilson’s doctor into his business partner, record producer, and creative collaborator.
As Wilson later reflected, “He was my manager, friend, doctor, all in one.”
Eugene Landy may have saved Brian Wilson’s life at some point, but as Wilson’s loved ones put it, he might have also nearly destroyed his life too.
A “Very Bright” Middle School Dropout
Eugene Ellsworth Landy was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 26, 1934, to physician Jules C. Landy and psychology professor Frieda Mae Gordon Landy. Though Eugene Landy would, in a way, follow in his parents’ footsteps as an adult, he once held aspirations of entering show business.
“My background is basically that of a hyperkinetic, perceptually disoriented, brain-damaged person,” Landy told the Rolling Stone in a 1976 interview. “I’m also very bright, very intuitive, very sensitive, and I’m quite capable of reading what most people are thinking or doing.”
Despite his apparent intelligence — tests at the University of Pittsburgh reportedly revealed his IQ to be 150 — Landy dropped out of school in the sixth grade, saying he was dyslexic. He later pursued careers in radio and pop music, at one point managing George Benson, a notable jazz guitarist.
But even early on, Landy’s desire for control was obvious.
“My people developed a distrust for [Eugene Landy],” George Benson told author Timothy White for his book on Brian Wilson, The Nearest Faraway Place, “when he made them sign a power of attorney that they didn’t understand, and he got all my mail and all my checks.”
Despite Landy’s prior intentions to leave academia behind, he eventually went on to earn his bachelor’s in psychology at California State College, Los Angeles in 1964, his master’s in psychology at the University of Oklahoma in 1967, and a Ph.D. from the same university a year later.
Eugene Landy/The Underground DictionaryAn author page for Eugene Landy’s book The Underground Dictionary, meant to be used as a glossary of slang terms for experts helping troubled youths.
He also eventually worked with the Peace Corps, Job Corps, and VISTA, and helped treat numerous Vietnam War veterans with drug issues.
Landy was quite successful by the time he relocated to Los Angeles and began to build the foundation for his controversial 24-hour therapy program. His apparent credibility as a doctor had made the situation with Benson seem like a footnote, but it was, in truth, a test run for how he could control people.
When he worked as a manager, people were wary of letting him get too close. As a doctor, however, he would find that people were more trusting.
Eugene Landy’s Introduction To Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson wasn’t Eugene Landy’s only high-profile patient. Richard Harris publicly announced that Landy was his shrink, and Landy had also reportedly treated Alice Cooper and Rod Steiger. But Wilson’s case was different.
By the mid-1970s, Brian Wilson was falling apart. He was becoming increasingly reliant on drugs and alcohol, had stopped working with The Beach Boys, and had become a near-recluse. His first wife, Marilyn, became so worried that she reached out to Eugene Landy after hearing about his services.
“Marilyn called me in late September of last year because she just couldn’t deal with the whole situation any longer,” Landy said in 1976. “She has two kids that need to have their needs met. She has her own needs for her life. And, uh, Brian was basically withdrawn for a number of years.”
Wikimedia CommonsBrian Wilson at his recording studio in the mid-1970s.
In Landy’s assessment, Wilson was “suffering from scared.” In a more official capacity, Wilson was eventually diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, meaning that he suffered from a mix of some schizophrenia symptoms, like hallucinations, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression.
Landy seemed like he was well suited to treat Wilson, but his methods were unusual and highly controversial. As part of his “24-hour therapy,” he monitored his patients around the clock and oversaw nearly every aspect of their lives, with the assistance of a team he put together. He was also, naturally, incredibly expensive, charging $90 for just 50 minutes of therapy — and eventually charging $35,000 a month for his services.
But even though Wilson could afford expensive treatments, Wilson’s closest associates purportedly became skeptical about how much Landy was actually helping him and wondered if they should seek treatment elsewhere.
Unfortunately, other methods didn’t seem to work as well for Wilson.
In the early 1980s, Wilson seemed to be struggling yet again, prompting Landy’s reintroduction into his life. This time around, however, their relationship was even closer — and far more overbearing.
How Brian Wilson And Eugene Landy Were Once “Partners In Life”
It wasn’t just drugs and alcohol ravaging Brian Wilson’s mind and body. He also had an unhealthy diet, rarely exercised, and was increasingly withdrawn.
“No one thought there was hope for Brian,” Eugene Landy said. But as time went on, Wilson would show signs of improvement. Not only had he purportedly recovered from his “suicidal death spiral” of depression and substance abuse, but he was also losing weight and staging an impressive musical comeback, which seemed to justify Landy’s 24-hour care.
What it did not justify, however, were the things that took place outside of medical care. Landy eventually gained a startling amount of control over Wilson’s career, serving as his record producer, business manager, and even songwriting partner. At one point, Wilson named Landy as a beneficiary in his will, and Landy claimed that he and Wilson were “partners in life.”
To many, it felt like Landy had crossed a line.
Worryingly, Landy had also seemingly begun to isolate Wilson further from people close to him. They moved studios every few weeks, possibly so that Wilson would struggle to form long-term professional relationships.
“Dr. Landy doesn’t like me to be in touch with my family too much,” Wilson once said. “He think’s it’s unhealthy.”
Wikimedia CommonsBrian Wilson in 1990.
Eugene Landy claimed that he stopped working as Wilson’s therapist in 1987, but the two men remained in close contact. By 1989, the California Board of Medical Quality Assurance had accused Landy of “grossly negligent conduct” in connection with his treatment of Wilson. Landy agreed to surrender his license for two years, but he would soon face more consequences.
By 1992, Wilson’s family had filed a lawsuit against Landy, claiming that he exerted “undue influence” over him, and Landy was ultimately banned from contacting Wilson.
Melinda Ledbetter, Wilson’s second wife, later opened up to the New York Post about how she became concerned with Landy’s behavior soon after she and Wilson started dating.
“It was so obvious [Brian] was being drugged. We’d get in my car to go somewhere and the first thing that would happen is that Brian would fall asleep in my lap,” she said. “Most of the time, Landy was giving him downers to keep him out of his hair. Around 1988, when Brian’s solo album came out, Brian had a lot of things to do. So Landy would give him uppers.”
Despite all the controversy, Landy was able to continue his work in places like New Mexico and Hawaii, which he did until he died in Honolulu on March 22, 2006 from pneumonia amidst a battle with lung cancer. He was 71.
As for Wilson himself, he maintained that Landy saved his life during his darkest moments. “I still feel that there was benefit,” Wilson said. “I try to overlook the bad stuff, and be thankful for what he taught me.”
After reading about Eugene Landy and his strange relationship with Brian Wilson, read about the even stranger connection between Dennis Wilson and Charles Manson. Or, take a deeper look into the Laurel Canyon counterculture scene of the 1960s.
