He was an incredibly damaged human being, from his father leaving when he was 7 and then his mother being bi-polar and an alcoholic. Yet somehow, he rose to become one of America’s biggest entertainers — and today, everyone knows his name… Check comments ⬇️

 a child growing up without a father. ”There was no breadwinner, so our situation went downhill pretty fast,” he said. ”I was different than the other kids because they had dads. And I remember, especially like a lot of guys my age, there was a dynamic with their fathers that I actually didn’t have.”

But his cousin saw things differently. In the documentary, she recalled, “When Howard left, it was a relief in that my mother felt more free, but it did give her a lot more stress in that she had to then work very, very hard to keep the family going.”

A childhood friend added, “A depression settled over the house” after Howard’s departure.

He described Rosalind as “a very loving woman” and said he was “almost smothered” by her affection. “I think it was to try to compensate for my dad’s lack of it. But there were also some troubling things about her. She was very isolated. She was lonely a lot, and I think she drank to assuage her loneliness,” he explained.

Knew something was very wrong

Her alcohol use became noticeable. “I would see mom drinking very often and we would say, ‘Mom don’t start, you know how you get,’ and she would be crying, screaming for hours and hours and hours,” his cousin recalled.

“We knew that there was something very wrong, that she was most likely bipolar — we didn’t know the word at the time. There wasn’t peace because we knew we had to walk on eggshells, that anything could throw her off.”

While he admitted that living with Rosalind could be “difficult,” he also recognized her deep love, noting the “dichotomy” in their relationship.

The siblings grew especially close during this time. “We felt each other’s pain and worry and we would get strength from each other. We were very close, we were very close, yes. We had to be,” his cousin said.

Despite the challenges, they ultimately viewed Rosalind as a mother who did the best she could. “No matter how poor we were at the time or how hard she had to work — Mom, she knew that piano lessons were important. That this had to be nurtured. She knew that he was going to be something someday,” the cousin explained.

Net worth of around $250 million

He added of his mother, “Mom was my cheerleader, mom said anything you set your mind out to do you can do. I credit my mom with sticking with me, she never gave up. She was a believer.”

Fortunately, Rosalinda would live long enough to see her son conquer the world. She reached the age of 92, passing away in 2014, by which time he was already a well-established artist with millions of records sold.

Her son had also been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rosalinda was even honored with a song named after her — Rosalinda’s Eyes, released in 1978.

But despite all his success and millions in the bank — with an estimated net worth of around $250 million — his career and life have also been marked by setbacks and misfortunes.

Depression played a major role in his struggles with alcohol. He told The New York Times in 2013 that after the September 11, 2001, attacks, he felt consumed by despair. ”I used booze as medication,” he admitted. He explained that his drinking often coincided with personal turmoil, including breakups and divorce — alcohol even worsened his failing marriage with one of his wives.