Melinda Wilson, wife Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, the mother of his five youngest children and a key architect of his comeback, died Tuesday of unknown causes. It was 77.
“My heart is broken,” Brian Wilson wrote in a statement. “Our five children and I are crying. Have not seen eachother. Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior. It gave me the emotional security I needed to pursue a career. He encouraged me to do the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor. It was everything to us. Say a prayer for her.”
Melinda Wilson met Brian Wilson in 1986 while working at a Cadillac dealership in Los Angeles. At the time, Brian was largely estranged from his family and teammates. The psychologist Dr. Eugene Landy controlled almost every aspect of his life. “He called for help and I think it initially helped,” Melinda told Larry King in 2004. “It helped Brian lose weight. He helped Brian take care of himself physically again. As time went on, he became very attached to Brian. Brian was mostly a prisoner.”
With considerable help from Melinda, Brian was finally able to legally cut all ties with Landy and start a life with her. They married in 1995 and adopted five children. Shortly after the wedding, Brian resumed recording music and touring under his own name. She was by his side through it all.
“He came from an incredibly dysfunctional family” Melinda Wilson said The Chicago Tribune in 1998. “His father was an abuser, his father was abused. And Brian should have been abusive too. Instead, Brian simply withdrew. He never dealt with his children. Now, although music is still extremely important to him, he has learned that there is love, family. I just wonder what music would have been like if he had had it earlier, what he could have done if he had had a supportive, loving family around him all this time.”
Melinda Kae Ledbetter grew up in Whittier, California. She was a commercial model for 16 years before starting work as a Cadillac dealer. “I knew about the Beach Boys,” he told Larry King. “But I didn't know that Brian was the genius behind the Beach Boys who grew up in California. I always thought Dennis was cute, his brother.'
In 2014, Elizabeth Banks played Melinda in the biopic Love and Mercy. “I didn't know how hard it would be [to watch it]Melinda Wilson told ABC. “I think I was more nervous than he was when I took him to see it, and then, I said, 'Well, what did you think?' And he goes, “Oh, it was actually much worse in real life.”
Brian and Melinda's five children also issued a public statement when news of her death broke: “She was not only a model, our father's savior and a mother, she was a woman empowered by her spirit on a mission to better everyone . touched. We will miss him but cherish all that he has taught us. How to care for the person next to you without expecting anything in return, how to find beauty in the darkest places, and how to live life as your truest self with honesty and pride. We love you mom.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/melinda-wilson-wife-brian-dead-1234956993/