Has anyone read the rolling stone article issue 179 jan,30,1975 with Freddie on the cover? It seems as if he hated the attention his fame brought him and yet it was something he always dreamed of. He seemed to really hate everything about himself as a child, calling himself a "miserable fat schmuck kid with glasses and asthma."
He also says he "learned very early to hate."
Sadly, in reading the article,you get the impression that he was never happy either as a child or as an adult. When the article came out, Freddie was really hot and everybody wanted his attetion. Fame was new to him (only having been famous for 5 months at this point)and yet he sounded like he was bitter about the whole thing already.
After reading it, I really felt like he had not found what he was searching for in becoming famous. He wanted to show them all, those people who were so bad to him as a young guy, and show them he was going to be somebody. When he became famous, he proved he could be something, but inside he was still that miserable kid he was all that time ago.
If you read the article, I would love to see what you came away with as far as how he seemed to be at that time.
I'd like to think that he was happy and that the smile was not a thin vail to hide the unhappiness inside.
bye

I have that magazine too and you are right, he wasn't satisfied either way. He was very bitter about alot of things, alot to prove. They even had to chase him around for the interview.

I've never been able to find that but it wounsd to me like he was very bitter about stuff as a kids. I suspect the teasing he got as a kid sadly affected him even when he grew up. I told my hubby the other day he was a sweet liitle Puerto-Rican boy who died too soon. So sad...

Yes rckyhr, I have read the article--got it from you a while back in fact! I found the differences between his persona in the article and in his mother's book to be disturbing.

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"A friend is faithful, trusting, and helpful, someone that realizes your imperfections and stands by you."--Freddie Prinze

I read the article and I believe he was very bitter about his childhood. Life is about learning lessons with the cards that you are dealt. He didn't live long enough to learn that as a person gets older they deal with the cards that they were given in life.

Some people choose to go seek counseling, pychiatrists etc. Some people ignore their past altogether. Some people confront the bullies etc.

By taking stimulants he tried to forget the past but, he got addicted. I don't think he wanted to get addicted he just did. He couldn't exorcise his demons. He tried to be happy but, with the stimulants, the wife, the suing of the ex manager, all the roles he had to play comic, actor, Hollywood squares, Dean Martin roasts, comedy album, More Johnny Carson and a host of other things he put too much on his platter so to speak.

He was too young to handle all that responsibility. Like Robert Deniro said "You want a piece of me"?

[This message has been edited by JennyLee22 (edited 07-23-2001).]

I havn't read the article ,just going by these posts it's scarey the difference between the three of them,Freddie in Maria's book,Freddie in that article, and Freddie as Chico because i can't help but think that there must have been a lot more of Chico in Freddie than Freddie wanted to admit.
But i was thinking, i wonder how much of the anger and bitterness came from the drugs.
Like somone posted on another topic, the one started by Chicosladyfair,about peoples opinons,Freddie did drugs b/4 fame and the fame and $ just helped him get more and harder drugs. So really how much of those negative feelings were Really Freddie and how much were from the drugs? It's something to think about.

I tend to think that much of the personality that comes out in these interviews is not only a side effect of drug use but also a bit of "macho" posturing which can be typical of young men Freddie's age, particularly of those who have a reputation already as "ladies' men". He may not have wanted to let the sweet, gentle side of himself show, considering the possible attitudes of the readership of the magazines in which these articles would appear. He did say that he created the character of Chico, so it is probably safe to assume that there was a lot more of Freddie in Chico than in the personality on display in many of the interviews. His mother's book says he cried easily, and as we all have seen, in the show he did come close to tears many times even when it was probably not in the script. But then again, it seems he had every reason to be bitter against show business and some of the people in it!

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"A friend is faithful, trusting, and helpful, someone that realizes your imperfections and stands by you."--Freddie Prinze

[This message has been edited by MariposaLKB (edited 07-25-2001).]

I remember Freddie saying that he was not like Chico at all. He use to get mad when people would compare him with Chico. I personally believe that he wasn't like Chico. He was his own person. A person unfortunatly that the people closest to him could not understand.

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JennyLee - A fan of Freddie Prinze Sr. & Jr.

I read that somewhere too. Still I think he brought his sweet side to Chico...

Yeah, I think his denial of having any of Chico in himself was just a line for "grown-up" press consumption (as opposed to teen magazines). He couldn't have made Chico so believable and appealing if he wasn't drawing some of him from within.

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"A friend is faithful, trusting, and helpful, someone that realizes your imperfections and stands by you."--Freddie Prinze

I agree with Mariposa. I think Freddie was drawing on some inner inspiration for Chico. The sad part is this...when the show first started he was Chico all the way. Chico was the entity of the show. But the more the show progressed, and the deeper Freddie's problems got, there was more of Freddie seeping into the character. By the time the last episodes rolled around we weren't watching Chico anymore...we were watching Freddie. Chico got lost and ultimately disappeared among all of Freddie's troubles.

Chicosladyfair, you put it very well.

Absolutely! The best example I can think of is the anger that comes through in the episode where Chico gets an apartment--it was Freddie's. He co-wrote the episode and it was the first time I can ever remember Chico swearing ("I'm not a boy, dammit, I'm a man!"). Ed and Chico would get upset and argue, but it never lasted an entire episode and it had never before been so much about Ed's fatherly concern. Freddie was asserting his own wish to be taken seriously even though he was a star as a comedian, and to be treated like an adult although he was still so young.

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"A friend is faithful, trusting, and helpful, someone that realizes your imperfections and stands by you."--Freddie Prinze

You're absolutely right. It's so evident in that episode. He co-wrote it which shows a need for more serious fields, and it had such a serious overtone...Chico spreading his wings. I think he craved for the audience and his fans to see a more serious and grown up Chico, not the happy-go-lucky mechanic in Ed's garage, therefore seeing a more grown-up and mature Freddie.
As for the interviews I have had the good fortune of reading I think he may sound crass in them only because he was a kid from the streets. He sounds like he wants the reader to make the distinction between the real Freddie and the lovable and affable Chico. He tried hard to separate the two.

Ya'll are so right! Even the way Chico handled breakups with girls changed. He no longer cried over them breaking up with him. I also can see where in the episodes he cried, that was his emotion going thru it & he gave Chico those sensitive emotions like crying etc... Wow, I didn't realize that episode was the one he wrote. I was shocked to hear the D-word well surprised actually cuz Chico never talked like that & esp to his elders... Our baby was growing up but sadly was going thru problems & no one knew of & if they did they didn't help... http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/frown.gif

[This message has been edited by Cheryl Harrell (edited 07-25-2001).]

In the episode Freddie co-wrote like was already expressed here,About Ed's fatherly concern, i think Freddie craved a close relationship with his father and in that episode it came through Jack?Ed