Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus opens up about difficult childhood: “It was awful growing up”

Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus has opened up about some difficult times in his childhood surrounding his parent’s divorce, saying “it was awful growing up”.

• READ MORE: Blink-182 at Reading Festival 2024: a welcome return for the unfiltered pop-punk pioneers

The bassist opened up about his new memoir Fahrenheit-182, which arrived earlier this week (April 8), in an interview with The Guardian. The book details his journey with cancer, from first being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2021 to his chemotherapy treatment, admitting to the newspaper that “I really thought I was going to die”.

Hoppus went on to say the exhaustion of chemo, steroids and physical pain “crushed me for months on end” but also added that the diagnosis “brought back friendships that I hadn’t had in years” – including his tumultuous friendship with Blink-182 co-founder Tom DeLonge.

Elsewhere in the interview with The Guardian, Hoppus reflected on his time growing up during which time he had to navigate his parent’s divorce.

He told the publication: “For decades, they didn’t speak to one another and it was awful growing up.

“I always felt like I was put in between because they wouldn’t speak to one another and I had to argue both sides, protect my dad from my mom, protect my mom from my dad, protect my sister from both of them. I felt like I was put in that position – maybe I wasn’t, but I felt like I was.”

He went on to explain that he became a “mediator” through it, something he describes as simultaneously “great” and “fucking terrible”.

He continued: “My personality became the mediator, the guy who tries to make everyone happy and pull everything back and make everyone copacetic. That’s what I love about playing bass guitar – it’s that thing between the drums and the guitar that brings everything together.

“So that personality has been great and it’s been fucking terrible. I still feel like it falls to me to deal with things, to try and figure it out, when maybe I should let nature take its course. I worry that I insert myself into situations where I don’t necessarily have any business.”

Hoppus was declared cancer-free later in 2021; DeLonge later reunited with the band to embark on a world tour and release their comeback album ‘One More Time‘ in 2023, which NME gave three stars: “They aren’t all that far away from who they’ve always been – three friends wanting to make some noise and have a riot of a time doing it.”

“Although they’re not exactly revolutionising pop punk, this was likely never the goal,” it added. “Chances are, the fans just want the old Blink back anyway, and in 2023, they’re just as fun as ever.”

Earlier this week, the band also announced details of a massive US tour with Alkaline Trio this autumn – find tickets here.

On the tour, they’ll be heading to major venues across the country, taking in cities from Virginia Beach to Kansas City. The run of dates begins on August 28 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, and runs through September before finishing at Palm Desert’s Acrisure Arena in California.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (April 11) at 10am local time here. Meanwhile, Citi card members have access to the presale which began at 12pm ET today and will run until Thursday at 1pm local time. Visit Citi Entertainment for more details.

Blink-182’s 2025 US ‘Missionary Impossible’ tour dates are:

AUGUST
28 – Hard Rock Live – Hollywood, FL
29 – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre – Tampa, FL

SEPTEMBER
1 – Credit One Stadium – Charleston, SC
3 – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek – Raleigh, NC
4 – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater – Virginia Beach, VA
6 – Bethel Woods Center For The Arts – Bethel, NY
7 – Broadview Stage At SPAC – Saratoga Springs, NY
9 – BankNH Pavilion – Gilford, NH
11 – Darien Lake Amphitheater – Buffalo, NY
13 – Four Chord Music Festival – Pittsburgh, PA (festival set)
14 – Sea Hear Now – Ashbury Park, NJ (festival set)
16 – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
17 – Ruoff Music Center – Noblesville, IN
21 – Shaky Knees – Atlanta, GA (festival set)
22 – The Orion Amphitheater – Huntsville, AL
24 – Walmart AMP – Rogers, AR
26 – Hollywood Casino Amphitheater – St. Louis, MO
27 – T-Mobile Center – Kansas City, MO

OCTOBER
2 – Aftershock Festival – Sacramento, CA (festival set)
4 – Acrisure Arena – Palm Desert, CA

The band are also set to play a slew of festivals this year, including See.Hear.Now, Shaky Knees and When We Were Young.

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