By 2001, the wheels were starting to come off. Years of constant touring and unresolved trauma had turned him into a man who was drowning in addiction and rage. It got so bad that he had to step away from the band entirely to enter rehabilitation, a move that many thought would be the end of Metallica. The documentary Some Kind of Monster captured that period, showing the world a vulnerable, broken side of a man who had always been seen as an untouchable rock god.
He had to learn how to be a father and a husband without a bottle in his hand, and he had to confront the monster of his own temper. It was a humiliating and public struggle, but he didn’t hide from it. He did the hard, dirty work of rebuilding his life from the ground up, proving that the toughest thing a man can do is admit when he’s beat.
