Marilyn Manson Opens Up About Being Himself & What He Realized After Breaking His Leg

Marilyn Manson is on the cover of King Kong Garçon‘s Issue 1, out now.

Here’s what the 49-year-old Heaven Upside Down artist had to say…

On his art: “When you love art, then you have to put your life on the line to do it. You want to live for your art, you gotta be willing to die for it-I don’t want to die for it but you gotta be willing to put that much weight on it.”

On what he realized after breaking his leg: “[For me] it’s not that I’ve become sober or [have had] some sort of religious awakening, I just became more in tune with myself since I had a rough year breaking my leg and having to get back on my feet with that. I persevered, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was, and maybe that was a sign for me to realize how important it is to make art because if you don’t do it you’re not someone that adds something in the world, you’re just someone that takes something from it. That’s why no one likes politics or religion at the moment, it just takes things away – at least for religion, but I’ll give them some credit for creating some great merchandise.”

On being himself: “I don’t wake up and put on everything that I wear on stage, cause it would be uncomfortable. But at the same time I’ve always said to people in my band, ‘Okay, you wear cool clothes when you’re stage but why don’t you wear them in real life?’ This is a critical conversation I had regarding lifestyle, like you feel cool while wearing that right? Then why don’t you feel cool wearing that all the time? That’s a broader metaphor, not a criticism of my band members. It’s just saying that it’s tough to break out of that space where you feel free and then like being that all the time.”

For more from Marilyn, visit KingKongMagazine.com.