Phoebe Bridgers has announced the death of her father.
The ‘Punisher’ singer-songwriter shared an old image of herself with her late dad on Instagram yesterday (January 3). “rest in peace dad,” she captioned the post.
Bridgers, whose parents divorced when she was 20, did not share any further information regarding the cause of his passing.
The Los Angeles artist has spoken about her complicated relationship with her father on numerous occasions. During an interview with GQ in 2019, Bridgers said he had a “drug thing” and claimed he had a history of being abusive.
In late 2020, the musician revealed in a conversation with The Line Of Best Fit that she started talking to her estranged father – who was a scenic carpenter – during the COVID-19-enforced lockdown. “It’s strange, but it’s been really nice,” she said.
Bridgers’ 2020 single ‘Kyoto’ makes reference to a time that her father told the artist that he was “getting sober“, adding: “And you wrote me a letter/ But I don’t have to read it.”
The song continues: “I don’t forgive you/ But please don’t hold me to it/ Born under Scorpio skies/ I wanted to see the world/ Through your eyes until it happened.”
Although her father hadn’t discussed the meaning behind the track, he did say he’d “like to take some responsibility” for their strained relationship after the single was Grammy-nominated.
Referring to the ‘Kyoto’ line “I’m gonna kill you/ If you don’t beat me to it“, Amelia Dimoldenberg recently asked Bridgers during an episode of Chicken Shop Date whether she still wanted to kill her dad. “No,” the singer replied.
A previous interview with NPR saw Bridgers describe her relationship with her father as “a very weird combination of emotionally unavailable, but very present in a weird way”.