Under the microscope

Singer Gary Numan, 59, answers our health quiz

CAN YOU RUN UP THE STAIRS?

AT HOME, I can barely run round the garden with my daughters [Raven, 13, Persia, 11, and Echo, ten] for five minutes without feeling like I’m going to die. But I can go on tour with no prep whatsoever and run around on stage for two hours with no struggle.

GET YOUR FIVE A DAY?

NO, I’M a shining example of what not to do. My kids really go on about it. Breakfast — I start every day with smoked salmon and two scrambled eggs — is definitely my healthiest meal. Then I have stuff like burgers and chips. My wife Gemma (of 25 years) is vegetarian and would love for me to be, too. I barely drink any water because I find it really boring and it makes me feel a bit sick, but I’ve started getting two bits of fruit a day.

ANY VICES?

WHERE to start? But fries are my big weakness.

ANY FAMILY AILMENTS?

YES, my mother Beryl, died of cancer last June, aged 77. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother and it was devastating. She first had breast cancer more than 25 years ago and had a double mastectomy. Then it reappeared in her bones and throat. At one point, she had four different types of cancer, but it was bone cancer that eventually got her.

WORST ILLNESS?

I WAS diagnosed as having Asperger’s as a child, but my parents dismissed it. It was only about 15 years ago that I started to take it more seriously.

HANGOVER CURE?

I’D NEVER been drunk until around 2010 where I got drunk by accident after a show in Mexico. I was drinking what I thought was Red Bull, but I later found out was Mezcal. I turned into a giggling buffoon. I have social anxiety because of my Asperger’s, so I sometimes have a drink on stage to help me loosen up.

SLEEP WELL?

FOR two years, I’ve been managing myself work wise and find it hard to get to sleep and wake early. My mind is a constant hive of thoughts.

EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?

YES in 2009, just after I turned 50. In a short space of time, we’d gone from having no kids to three, and I was struggling with the enormity of it. I was prescribed antidepressants, but the problem is if you stay on them too long, it takes away your capacity to feel emotion. I no longer had any ambition, I was just floating through life. Gemma eventually said something to shock me out of it. I went to my | GP and we found a way to wean me off the pills. I’ve been off them for several years.

ANY PHOBIAS?

I’M NOT mad on snakes. It’s the way they slither.

LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER?

YES —I’d love to see what’s coming.

Gary plays Standon Calling Festival in Hertfordshire July 27-30, standon-calling.com