Dave Grohl Reflects on Infidelity, Grief, and Intensive Therapy in New Interview

Dave Grohl says he has spent the past year in near-daily therapy while working through a series of personal crises, including the death of Taylor Hawkins, the loss of his mother, and a public admission that he fathered a child outside his marriage.

In an interview with The Guardian, Grohl said he has attended therapy “six days a week for 70 weeks,” amounting to more than 430 sessions. He described the process as part of an ongoing effort to confront emotions he had long avoided.

Grohl said the period began with Hawkins’ death in 2022, followed by the death of his mother four months later. Experiencing both losses in close succession, he said, was overwhelming.

“It was almost too much to feel,” he said, adding that his instinct was to keep moving rather than process the grief. He connected that reaction to earlier experiences, including the death of Kurt Cobain, saying he had developed a habit of pushing difficult emotions aside.

Grohl said therapy became necessary when he reached a point where continuing to work without reflection was no longer sustainable. While songwriting had previously served as an outlet, he said it was not enough on its own. “I needed to stop and sit with myself and re-evaluate,” he said, describing the process as ongoing rather than something with a clear endpoint.

The start of therapy coincided with a personal disclosure he made publicly in 2024, when he announced that he had fathered a child outside his marriage. In that statement, Grohl said he intended to take responsibility as a parent.

In the interview, he said the experience forced him to reconsider how much weight he placed on public perception. After the announcement, he made a deliberate effort to step back from external reactions. “I had to turn everything off,” he said, including his concern about how others viewed him. He described that shift as necessary to avoid being overwhelmed by external judgment.

Grohl also spoke in detail about his grief following Hawkins’ death. He described a moment in which he believed he saw Hawkins in a vivid dream, recalling it as unusually realistic. The experience ended abruptly when he woke up, but he described it as one of the few moments in which he felt a direct emotional connection to the loss.

The interview also touched on recent changes within Foo Fighters, including the departure of drummer Josh Freese, who had joined the band for a tour following Hawkins’ death.

Grohl did not go into detail about the decision, but said it was consistent with the band’s history of working with different drummers over time. Bassist Nate Mendel described the move as a mutual decision, saying it was ultimately in the best interest of everyone involved.

Freese has previously said he was not given a specific reason for his departure.

The band is preparing to release its 12th studio album, Your Favorite Toy, scheduled for April 24. A new track, “Caught in the Echo,” has already been released ahead of the album.