But things have not always been easy for the actor c*m comedian. In an NPR radio interview with Terry Gross in 2004, Aykroyd talked about his childhood struggle with neurological disorders Tourette and Asperger’s Syndrome. During the half-hour long interview, Gross asks the star whether he was diagnosed with schizophrenia aged 12 because he heard voices in his head.
The now 57-year-old answered that he wasanlyzed as a Tourette’s and Asperger’s child, not so much schizophrenia, adding that the former can also be associated with hallucinogenic voices.
“I grew up being pulled one way by my mother, who was very very strict, and then being relaxed by my father, who was very passive. I had the Tourette’s pretty badly there, and I went to a therapist about it,” Aykroyd said.
“At 12 years old I was able to have the luxury of sitting down with a therapist and talking through all kinds of things, books and music. She was quite influential in kind of evening me out.”
The actor commented on doctors’ willingness today to just give kids pills, but said that back in his day, they didn’t have the benefit of sophisticated medicine:
