I’ve seen people talk about actors and artists that had a terrible time.
My own would be Anne Rice. She wrote Interview with the Vampire after her young daughter died of Leukemia. Then her husband suddenly died of a brain hemorrhage. I suspect her Christian, anti-fanfic phase was a result of mental illness and manipulation from the publishers, although I don’t think she ever apologized.
F. Scott Fitzgerald.
He is obviously most famous for The Great Gatsby.
He achieved some success as an author when he published This Side of Paradise, so he got a taste of “making it,” but his success was short lived.
He wrote a number of essays detailing his nervous break down and declining mental health; to the point that his nervousness and anxiety made it impossible to write. He was just too obsessed with success and the pressure to write a classic novel.
He died in 1940 believing his life’s work was a mediocre disappointment. 5 years later Gatsby’s popularity took off like a rocket, and many consider it “The Great American Novel.”
And the reason it became popular is because it was so unknown, it was cheap to publish so the US government sent thousands of copies to soldiers during WW2 who then came home and felt it was a “classic”. It wasn’t well-received in Fitzgerald’s time at all.
… Eh, the dude was a dick bag to his wife. I guess he unintentionally went against what his book was meant to be about, which was greedy rich people.
I’m convinced his book was self reflective and self loathing. I think he hated how badly he wanted to be rich and well liked/connected.