“Sacrifices were made by everyone so that the genius could be out in the world”: Frank Zappa’s daughter Moon Unit on their difficult family life
Moon Unit Zappa has again opened up about her life growing up with Frank Zappa as her father, saying that everyone in the family had to make sacrifices for him.
“In my opinion, we were all given the short end of the stick, [mother] Gail included,” she tells Mojo. “Sacrifices were made by everyone so that the genius could be out in the world.”
READ MORE: “I just thought, ‘I’m done’”: Steve Vai reflects on how “brutal” experience with Frank Zappa nearly made him give up on touring
She explains that, when Frank was home, he’d be in his record studio – even at mealtimes. “That’s where his dopamine was,” she says. “I experienced him as someone who was depressed, because he wasn’t seen the way he wanted to be seen in the world.”
She says he was lonely, but also the funniest person she knew – he’d avoid feelings by turning them into humour – and discusses her experiences after the release of his 1982 hit Valley Girl, on which she featured.
“I’m still healing that wound,” she admits. “I was having a totally different experience than those who enjoyed the record. It’s a shame I wasn’t celebrated at home for having a talent and a gift.”
Moon has been working on a memoir, Earth to Moon, and describes the process of doing so as “painful”, saying, “I didn’t anticipate how painful the process would be – revisiting gutting past events. I’d tell people I was kind of spelunking in hell, retrieving parts of myself I didn’t even know were missing. That was a very strange, but ultimately, healing process.”
She said in an earlier statement about her book, “Some of the surprises for me in writing the book were empathy for the villains in my life and for myself, along with the mortifying exposure and dismantling of faulty understandings and outdated beliefs. This memoir is a rock ‘n’ roll odyssey, examining much of what broke me and broke me open growing up an inimitable icon’s daughter.”
Earth to Moon is set for release on August 20. Pre-order it now via White Rabbit Books for £22.
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