After Sia and filmmaker Erik Anders Lang called it quits following two years of marriage, she struggled to adjust to her new normal.
“[When] I got divorced, that really threw me for a loop. That was such a dark time that I was in bed for three years, really, really severely depressed,” Sia, 47, confessed during a Thursday, September 14, interview on Apple Music 1 with Zane Lowe. “And so I couldn’t really do anything for that period of time.”
“Anything” included writing songs, which she only recently picked back up. “And then I started again, just little bits and pieces here and there, but it was really hard to get me out of bed,” she explained during the Apple Music episode. “And then finally it just turned out we had enough songs to make an album, enough good ones. So I just rely on my management to tell me when we’ve got enough good ones because … I think I can tell [when one is great], but they tell me when we’ve got 11 or 12 or 13 enough real good ones.”
Sia’s latest album, Reasonable Woman, is her first new LP in eight years and is slated to drop in spring 2024.
Amid the Australian musician’s career, she started dating Lang, now 42. Us Weekly confirmed in August 2014 that they tied the knot. Two years later, they announced their split.
“After much soul searching and consideration we have made the decision to separate as a couple,” the now-exes told Us in a December 2016 statement. “We are, however, dedicated to remaining friends. There will be no further comment.”
Nearly two weeks later, Sia filed for divorce and cited irreconcilable differences. While it is not known when the petition was finalized, she has since moved on with Dan Bernard.
Sia and Bernard got married in May at the Italian villa of fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
Sia, who adopted two now-adult sons in 2019, is now embracing happiness with Bernard and introspectively. The “Chandelier” singer explained on Thursday that she noticed a mental health shift after she was diagnosed with autism.
“I can talk about it now because I know a little bit more about it,” Sia told the 50-year-old DJ, noting that she figured out she was on the spectrum after getting into a Twitter feud with another autistic individual. “It turns out, ironically, that … Kathy Griffin, one of my friends, said to me, ‘I think you are autistic.’ And so I went and I had a neuro-psych eval, and it took 18 hours over the course of five, six days. And it turned out that I’m a level 2 autistic.”
She continued: “It made a lot of sense to me because I’ve suffered my whole life, really suffered, and I didn’t know why. And I felt like I had to put on a human suit all the time to go out and be a part of the world. Personally, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m so grateful to Kathy Griffin for just saying, ‘Me and your Kardashian fans, we think you’re autistic and you should get tested.’”
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
