Former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg has opened up about seeking therapy after his 2023 dismissal from the band, describing the period that followed as one of the most mentally and physically difficult stretches of his life.
Speaking with HeartSupport, Weinberg reflected on the emotional fallout of being removed from Slipknot, saying he eventually reached a point where he realised he needed professional help (per Blabbermouth).
“There was a certain point that I kind of found myself as like a tangled ball of rusted barbed wire, is what it really kind of felt like emotionally,” Weinberg said.
He explained that finding the right therapist was not immediate, despite having previous experience with therapy in his early 20s.
“It finally felt like an unlocking of a door, like a door that I’d tried many keys trying to open and it just wouldn’t.”
Moving forward
Weinberg now says he speaks with a therapist around once a week, using those sessions to process difficult situations, anxiety and the pressures that come with life as a professional musician.
“I think the perseverance through that was so worth it, that just because I didn’t have some kind of match made in heaven right off the bat searching for professional help in a mental health capacity, that I did, that I kept at it and that I did, and that I have someone that I speak to once a week.”
The timing made the situation even heavier, just two weeks after Slipknot announced his departure in November 2023, Weinberg underwent hip surgery to repair a torn labrum and address an issue with his femur.
That left him physically recovering while simultaneously trying to process the end of a decade long chapter.
“When you find yourself in a transitional phase, especially in my life, especially having a significant transitional phase occur at the same time as I had to have a physical surgery to correct some issues., and I had hip surgery and was on my couch with my thoughts alone, to endure all of that concurrently was… I mean, talk about a mental and physical grind every moment of every day just to feel like a normal person.”
Slipknot announced Weinberg’s departure on November 5th, 2023, describing it as a “creative decision”. Weinberg later said he was “heartbroken and blindsided” by the move.
He had joined Slipknot in 2013 following Joey Jordison’s departure and went on to play on * .5: The Gray Chapter*, We Are Not Your Kind and The End, So Far.
Slipknot recruited former Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande in 2024.
For Weinberg, though, the bigger takeaway now seems less about the split itself and more about what came after it.
“This is part of the journey, is really prioritizing this so the events of life, the circumstances that you can’t control, people that surprise you, all that sort of stuff, it will test you.”
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