ENDLESS HARMONY

While Dennis's life was crumbling, Brian was finally managing to get a grip on his. It wasn't easy. After several stays in local hospitals, it was clear that Brian needed Dr. Landy's help again. Marilyn dismissed Stan and Rocky and convinced the other Beach Boys to rehire the psychologist. They reluctantly agreed and “fired” Brian from the band in an effort to keep his income from Carolyn Williams, a live-in nurse who had been supplying him with junk food, liquor, and drugs. Landy then whisked Brian away to a remote house in Hawaii for a three-month rest.

Brian was dangerously out of shape, and the exercise program and diet Landy and his staff put him on was grueling. But he began losing weight and regaining his self-respect, and he began to play and write music again. Brian also faced the inner demons that had plagued him since his childhood: “I'd spent years ignoring these emotions, drowning them in booze, drugs, and food,” he later wrote in his autobiography. “There was none of that anymore.” In March 1983, he held a press conference at Honolulu's Kahala Hilton Hotel to dispel rumors that Landy had kidnapped him. Brian, who was usually terrified of such events, conducted himself with dignity. Soon after, he returned home a slimmer and saner man, ready to face the Beach Boys.