Beach Boys' Brian Wilson mourns death of wife Melinda Ledbetter: 'She was my savior'

[Band Beyond Youall]

The Olde Geezer will be in seclusion..(wait, he already is!):
Come back Geez, all is forgiven!

https://ew.com/beach-boys-brian-wilson-mourns-death-wife-melinda-ledbetter-8553478

MUSIC
Beach Boys' Brian Wilson mourns death of wife Melinda Ledbetter: 'She was
my savior'

"She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career," the
musician wrote on social media.

By Wesley Stenzel Published on January 30, 2024

Brian Wilson is mourning the death of his wife, Melinda Ledbetter.

The Beach Boys songwriter and bassist announced Ledbetter's death at 77 in
a heartfelt social media post Tuesday. "My heart is broken," he wrote.
"Melinda, my beloved wife of 28 years, passed away this morning. Our five
children and I are just in tears. We are lost."

Born in Pueblo, Colo. and raised in Whittier, Calif., Ledbetter worked as a
model and a car salesperson before meeting Wilson in 1986. Wilson, who has
been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and mild bipolar disorder, was
under the strict supervision of psychologist Eugene Landy at the time.
Ledbetter reported Landy to the attorney general in 1989; the case was
dismissed and the couple went their separate ways at Landy's behest.

Brian Wilson and Melinda Ledbetter. TYLER BOYE/WWD/PENSKE MEDIA VIA GETTY
Two years later, Wilson's family filed a conservatorship lawsuit and
removed him from the psychologist's care. Ledbetter and Wilson then
rekindled their relationship, and they married in 1995. The couple went on
to adopt five children together, and Ledbetter served as Wilson's manager
from 1999 onward.

In his social media post, Wilson praised his late wife for her care and
support. "Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior," he wrote. "She
gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career. She encouraged me
to make the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor. She was
everything for us. Please say a prayer for her."

Wilson's post also contained a message from his children. "It is with a
heavy heart that we let everyone know that our mom, Melinda Kay Ledbetter
Wilson passed away peacefully this morning at home," they said. "She was a
force of nature and one of the strongest women you could come by. She was
not only a model, [but also] our [father's] savior, and a mother, she was a
woman empowered by her spirit with a mission to better everyone she
touched."

They continued, "We will miss her but cherish everything she has taught us.
How to take care of the person next to you with out expecting anything in
return, how to find beauty in the darkest of places, and how to live life
as your truest self with honesty and pride."

Ledbetter was portrayed by Elizabeth Banks in the 2014 biopic Love & Mercy,
which saw Paul Dano and John Cusack play Wilson at two distinct points in
his life. Screenwriter Oren Moverman told Collider that he primarily based
the Cusack and Banks section of the movie on Ledbetter's firsthand accounts
of her courtship with Wilson.

[Band Beyond Youall]

The saga continues:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/arts/music/brian-wilson-conservatorship-dementia.html

Brian Wilson’s Family Seeks to Place Him Under a Conservatorship
Mr. Wilson, whose musical genius powered the Beach Boys, has dementia,
according to his publicist. His wife, Melinda, died last month.

Matt Stevens
By Matt Stevens
Feb. 16, 2024
Updated 3:48 p.m. ET
The family of Brian Wilson, the musical architect whose genius helped power
the Beach Boys, is seeking to place him under a conservatorship following
the death of his wife, Melinda, last month.

According to documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this
week by lawyers representing the potential conservators, Mr. Wilson, 81,
has “a major neurocognitive disorder,” and “is unable to properly provide
for his own personal needs for physical health.” Melinda Wilson had
previously provided care for her husband, but following her death on Jan.
30, the appointment of a conservator has become necessary, according to the
petition filed on Wednesday.

In a statement. the family said that LeeAnn Hard, Mr. Wilson’s business
manager, and Jean Sievers, his publicist and manager, would serve as
co-conservators.

“This decision was made to ensure that there will be no extreme changes to
the household and Brian and the children living at home will be taken care
of and remain in the home where they are cared for,” the statement said.

In an email to The New York Times, Ms. Sievers said Mr. Wilson has been
“diagnosed with dementia.” She said that as a co-conservator, she would
“ensure that all of Brian’s daily living needs are satisfied and he
continues to lead an active life.”

A hearing on the petition has been scheduled for April 30.

Mr. Wilson, a revered founder of the Beach Boys, is widely credited as a
musical visionary who channeled an idealized notion of California into a
chart-topping sound.

But the mental health challenges he faced along the way have also been well
documented.

After suffering a nervous breakdown on a flight to Houston with the band in
1964, he abandoned touring to focus on recording, tapping into a period of
explosive creativity that would help reshape the pop landscape with hits
like “Good Vibrations.” At their height, the Beach Boys and their music
flooded the Top 40 with melodies that captured the energy and culture of
sunny, vibrant Southern California and music meticulously orchestrated in
the studio. An American counterweight to the Beatles, the band was inducted
into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

But even as Mr. Wilson worked, his struggles with mental illness worsened.
He became increasingly withdrawn after an ambitious album, “Smile,” fell
apart in 1967. He battled depression and was eventually diagnosed with
schizoaffective disorder, which manifested itself in auditory
hallucinations, among other symptoms. He also experimented with LSD and
other drugs and began overeating and abusing alcohol. He receded from the
public eye and remained bedridden for extended periods during the 1970s.

In the years that followed, Mr. Wilson began dating Melinda Kae Ledbetter,
who would become his second wife. The couple met in a Los Angeles Cadillac
dealership, where she was a saleswoman, in a scene dramatized in the 2014
movie “Love & Mercy.”

Ms. Wilson has said her future husband was struggling at the time she met
him. Mr. Wilson had begun working with a psychotherapist, Eugene Landy, who
is credited with helping yank his client from the depths of depression and
substance abuse — and also blamed for inserting himself into many corners
of Mr. Wilson’s creative and financial life.

Mr. Wilson’s family members eventually petitioned to create a previous
conservatorship that extracted Mr. Wilson from Mr. Landy’s control. He
married Melinda Ledbetter in 1995. They adopted five children, and Mr.
Wilson credited her with helping to stabilize his life and career.

Toward the end of her life, Ms. Wilson also served as her husband’s health
care agent, according to court filings.

“Mrs. Wilson attended to Mr. Wilson’s daily living needs,” the document
said, “as Mr. Wilson is unable to properly provide for his own personal
needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter.”

In 2021, the Beach Boys signed a blockbuster deal with Iconic Artists
Group, selling the majority of the band’s intellectual property rights,
including their trademarks and the rights to much of their music. Later
that year, Wilson also sold his songwriting rights to Universal Music. The
transaction was confidential, but was revealed the following year when his
former wife, Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford, sued, saying she was owed millions
of dollars as a result of the terms of their divorce settlement.

Wilson was on the road performing shows as recently as 2022.

Matt Stevens writes about arts and culture news for The Times. He has been
a journalist for more than a decade.

[bmoore]

Where are his kids in this? Seems like a situation rife for abuse.