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And yet:

Then I watched an interview with him and it became clear to me the source for that myth is Phil himself. No one else thinks this or would be saying it if it weren't for him and his paranoia.

On one hand he says that anywhere in the world if you turn on the radio you're likely to stumble upon at least one radio station playing one of his songs - which I agree is probably true. I certainly get the feeling that I'm more likely to hear his music than, say, Madonna, and she is more famous and more prolific than him.

But then he follows that up with how shocked he is that some people seem to truly hate him, and have had enough of him, his stupid face, his music especially the ballads, and would be glad never to hear from him again.

Yeah, it's called being really famous. The more people have heard of you the more people are either going to be your fans, your haters or occupy any grey area in between these two polar opposites. So?

So that for that reason he decided to retire and even bury some good ballads he composed, songs he thinks would've been hits, because he figures his haters wouldn't like them.

Try to imagine Madonna saying this, or even thinking this. Say what you will about Madonna but I can't magine her being so irrational or self-defeating. "I guess I could release another album that would be a huge sucess as usual, but I am aware that some people think I'm a ho and really hate my guts, always have, and can't wait for me to retire and shut up already, so even though I am so adored that I am a literal billionaire with fans who would kill for me I'm going to do my critics a favour and go home, never work again because you know me, I live to please my enemies who hate me and wish the absolute worst for me, screw my fans, I don't have a life to live".

You have to suffer from this pathological form of self-pity for this to make any sense to you. I knew he was physically very ill and had been for quite some time, I just hadn't realized it was part of a syndrome that involves serious mental illness as well. It's weird to me that the interviewer seemed to treat this as though it were perfectly reasonable for one of the most gifted and sucessful singer/songwriters of his generation to commit career suicide because he can't handle not being absolutely universally loved by every single person on the face of the planet all the time. What a shame.

I remember tv show host Graham Norton coining a phrase: "paradise syndrome" or paradise complex, meaning when someone is so spoiled, so fortunate in this world, they're so used to having it so easy that they just can't handle any push-back, any problems anymore. Everything has to run smooth, smooth, smooth all the time or they break and fall apart.