Awkward moment Leigh Sales is forced to apologize to Nick Cave for crossing the line – as emotional music legend opens up about losing his two sons

Leigh Sales has apologised to Nick Cave in an emotional interview after the Australian music legend spoke about him on the anniversary of his eldest son’s death.

The awkward situation arose when the veteran ABC presenter interviewed the 66-year-old rock legend for an episode of Australian Story, which aired on Monday night.

Cave discussed the grief of losing his eldest son Jethro, 31, in May 2022, when he revealed the interview was filmed on the second anniversary of his son’s death.

Jethro, who suffered from schizophrenia and struggled with drug addiction, died in Melbourne two days after being released from prison.

He died nine years after the Australian-born Bad Seeds frontman lost his youngest son, Arthur, 15.

“Today is the anniversary of Jethro’s death,” Cave explained to Sales.

The Sales department immediately apologized for the unfortunate timing.

“I’m sorry this interview falls on the anniversary of your son’s death,” she said.

Rock legend Nick Cave (pictured) discussed his grief over the loss of his eldest son Jethro, 31, as he revealed the episode was filmed on the anniversary of his son’s death.

Cave said it’s difficult to do interviews when you’re there because the conversation quickly turns to his sons.

“It’s weird that we jump right into this and I… it’s not your fault,” Cave replied.

The father of four also spoke of his grief over the loss of his youngest son Arthur.

The teenager first used LSD before jumping 60 feet off a cliff near his home in Brighton, England, in 2015.

“I understood the process because I had been through it,” Cave said.

‘There is the first catastrophic event that we eventually absorb or rearrange, so that we become beings of loss.

Cave says he felt “shamefully smug” after the deaths of his two sons.

“Most of my life I was just in awe of my own genius … I had an office and I sat there every day writing and whatever else was going on in my life was secondary. Even annoyances. Because I was involved in this great work,” he said.

‘And it all collapsed and I saw the folly of it… the shameful complacency of the whole thing.’

Veteran ABC presenter Leigh Sales (pictured), who interviewed Cave as part of an episode for the ABC program Australian Story, immediately apologised for the unfortunate timing

Jethro (pictured right), who struggled with drug addiction, died in Melbourne in 2022, two days after being released from prison (pictured left Nick Cave)

Cave said that “art surpasses all” no longer applies to him after the deaths of Arthur and Jethro.

“I just saw the folly of it and the shameful complacency of the whole thing. It made my priorities change,” he said.

‘I am a father, a husband and a kind of human being of the world. These are much more important to me than the idea of ​​being an ‘artist’.’

Despite the personal tragedies, he was able to find a different perspective on life, which allowed him to see the world differently.

“I mean, this is a pretty complicated issue, but the void that was created was kind of meaning that found its way into that void in all sorts of different ways,” Cave said.

‘[It] has allowed me to see the world in a different way [and] ‘Given me much more compassion for the human condition’.

Cave’s son Arthur (pictured) tragically fell from a cliff near Brighton in July 2015 after taking LSD

Cave said it was a “counterfactual reaction” that made him less bitter.

“It did the opposite: I became much more connected to people in general,” he said.

Cave says he now prioritizes his role as a husband and father, rather than his role as a musician.

He is also a grandfather now, which makes him “extremely happy.”

“My priorities have changed. You know, I’m still working all the time, I’m still touring, I’m still annoying everybody because I’m making a new record or I’m depressed because I can’t write songs,” Cave said.

“I look forward to being the kind of grandfather who, you know, sits in the armchair, says inappropriate things and is a terrible influence on everyone, but who the child secretly loves.”

Cave believes he is a good father and finds fatherhood easy for his two surviving children.

“I think I have a great talent for kids in general. I’ve always been good with kids,” he said.

Nick Cave has spoken openly about the tragic deaths of his two sons. The Bad Seeds musician, 66, has lost two children in the past 10 years. Pictured with his wife Susie Cave

‘I meet other fathers and parents and they seem quite exhausted by the whole thing.

‘Not me…I find it really energizing.’

Cave also spoke about how he turned to the Christian faith, which he developed in his early years after becoming consumed by his “own genius.”

“I was always religious by nature, even as a child, but there was no need for it. I was a kind of drug addict for a couple of decades,” he said.

‘I think after Arthur’s death I wasn’t so much angry about those things, or rejecting them anymore. I just felt a slow movement toward a religious life.’

I have found [that] ‘An exceptionally useful and enriching event in my life’.

Cave went on to say that while he “lives in a rock ‘n’ roll world,” he no longer struggles with drugs and alcohol.

“I see things like this around me all the time,” he said.

‘I don’t feel any need to go back to that way of life, but I still recognize it and identify with it.’

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