Rick Astley was forced into an early retirement at 27 – because his crippling fear of flying stopped him from touring the world. The British singer hung up his microphone in 1993 – a year after his daughter Emilie was born – because he was too terrified to leave her behind for promotional trips. He says, “I haven’t regretted retirement once. I was really lucky that I had a career in lots of different countries but it meant I had to go to those countries, which was fantastic for the first few years.”
“But, once you’re a dad and you’ve got things going on in your life that mean a bit more to you, you don’t necessarily want to get on another plane… Because of that, I developed a fear of flying. I have this pet theory that the flying stopped me from doing what I was doing, rather than the other way around.”
“I couldn’t promote records in America, or wherever, because I didn’t want to get on a plane to do it. I do fly now – I don’t particularly like it – but I do fly. I’m not saying I was heading for a nervous breakdown or cracking up but I think the signs were there to say, ‘You know what? Maybe you need to put the brakes on and do something else.’”