'I told my children some stories': Billy Corgan opens up on his journey from childhood to fatherhood

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Billy Corgan has revealed that he does not hide his childhood from his children. The 56-year-old member of the rock band the Smashing Pumpkins got personal on REINVENTED with Jen Eckhart in a candid conversation spanning his journey from childhood to fatherhood.

During his podcast experience, the American musician confirmed that his father once told him that the abuse he suffered as a kid was “good” because it “made [him] a better rock star.” “Yes, that’s a quote,” he told host Jen Eckhart, adding, “It’s pretty funny, if you think about it.”

Billy Corgan on how his childhood influenced his parenting

“I absolutely believe in the concept of generational trauma," said Corgan as he reflected on the way his own childhood has influenced his parenting. “I mean, much of what we were taught or not taught or we went through as children — my brother and I — I think was the result of what our parents had been taught or not taught,” he said, adding that it’s “simple math.”

“Even down to the concept of ‘Yeah, I’m hitting you, but I’m hitting you less than I was hit,’ so this is better,” he said, adding that he has “heard that” from a parent before.

Billy Corgan opened up on if he talks about his past struggles with his children

On whether he and wife Chloe Mendel discuss their past struggles and traumas with their children, son Augustus, eight, and daughter Philomena, five, the singer said, “We do talk about it occasionally.” “In fact, I was talking to my son this morning about certain things that are sort of loosely related to what you asked,” Corgan said, adding that his philosophy is to “dole it out where appropriate.”

“For example, I told my children some stories about where my father had beat my father and I, and my kids being kids turned that into a story that my daddy was bad, like what kids do, like he’s a villain in a superhero movie,” Corgan told Eckhart.

According to People, he continued, “We were driving down the road one day and my daughter started saying something about my father being bad or me not liking my father or something, and I said, ‘No, no. I love my dad. I love my father.’”

The '1979' singer said he thinks it’s “important” to try to give children “a balanced sense of the conflict in that.”

“That you give them — as much as they are capable of understanding at the age of eight and five — let’s call it the quantum aspect of how you can both love and have issues with someone in your life,” he added. “That it’s not so simple as dividing the world into good guys and bad guys," he continued.

Billy Corgan also opened up about his addiction

The 'Zero' rocker said he used to tell himself he was “lucky” he didn’t get addicted to “those things” while simultaneously developing addictions to “other things that you could argue were just as caustic to my life.”

“I don’t think I staved off addiction, I think I staved off the primary addictions that most people associate with being a musician,” he said, adding “But it doesn’t mean there weren’t other addictions, including my need to consistently work, much to my detriment.”