For Kyle Nicolaides, becoming a famous rockstar was the dream. And, unlike the rest of little kids who share that same aspiration, he did it. Except he was miserable and depressed the entire time.
“As a man dealing with mental health and being depressed, I had a lot of shame. I thought if I admitted that I was struggling or if I admitted that I was depressed, it meant something was fundamentally wrong with me. That fear of ‘if I admit this it makes it real,’ that kept me from getting help,” said the Santa Barbara native.
Nicolaides and his band, Beware of Darkness, toured the world and played with bands like the Smashing Pumpkins, Cage the Elephant, and Jane’s Addiction. Nicolaides had made his seemingly perfect dream come true — he was the lead singer of a very successful rock band.