It’s been a rough year for former Creed frontman Scott Stapp, who has today revealed that he’s been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and says “I’m lucky to be alive”.

The 41 year old former frontman of the popular rock band, who were at their biggest in the early noughties, made headlines in November last year with a lengthy video he posted to Facebook (now removed) claiming that he was broke, homeless, and “under some kind of pretty vicious attack” from the IRS and other forces.

Scott StappCreed singer Scott Stapp

TMZ reported at the time that, two weeks prior, Stapp had been found wandering on the side of a road in Florida and had subsequently been placed on a 72 hour psychiatric hold. In December, his wife Jaclyn called 911 to report “he thinks… …he's a CIA agent and he was supposed to assassinate Obama.”

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However, in a new interview with People magazine he spoke about how he’s recovering and adjusting to life with the disorder, which causes sudden mood swings and alterations in energy levels.

“I had a psychotic break that was brought on by alcohol and drug abuse,” he says. “I was hallucinating. I drove around the United States for a month, following an angel that I saw on the hood of my car.”

“In my delusional thinking, I thought my family was involved in ISIS, and that millions of dollars had been taken from me to support terrorism,” he continues. “All of it was nonsense. I was out of my mind.”

Stapp claimed that, at first, the diagnosis was difficult for him to accept. “It was hard to process,” he admitted in the interview. “There's a stigma associated with it. But Jaclyn kept telling me, ‘embrace it. We love you.’ It became a big sigh of relief, because finally, we had an answer.”

Creed, a band often tagged with ‘Christian rock’ and most famous for the Grammy Award-winning ‘With Arms Wide Open’, has sold roughly 53 million records worldwide since its formation in the mid ‘90s. However, it has been on hiatus since 2012, since when Stapp released his second solo album Proof of Life in 2013.

More: Former Creed frontman Scott Stapp threatened to kill Obama, according to wife’s 911 call