Benjamin Burnley - Personal Life

Personal Life

Burnley suffers from several phobias, a fact that inspired the title of their 2006 album Phobia. Phobia's cover, which depicts a winged man hovering above the ground, represents Burnley's fear of flying, which has prevented Breaking Benjamin from touring outside the United States and Canada. Burnley also suffers from hypochondria and fear of the dark. He says that he doesn’t believe in a person’s time to die and he wants to put off dying for as long as he possibly can, which is why he doesn’t fly or even ride in a car unless it’s necessary. He incorporates his phobias into his music on the album We Are Not Alone in the song “Break My Fall,” in which a pilot is heard over the music saying, “Mayday, mayday. Request permission to land. I cannot control the plane. We are in danger of crashing.”

Burnley is an avid video gamer, and conceived of the idea for Breaking Benjamin to write and record the song "Blow Me Away" for the soundtrack to Halo 2. The song "Polyamorous" is also featured on the games Run Like Hell, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw and WWE Day of Reckoning (along with their song "Firefly"). "Diary of Jane" appears on NASCAR 07.

Burnley is a recovering alcoholic, admitting in an interview with listenin.org that he wanted to "drink himself to death." He says that he regrets ever drinking a drop of alcohol and is victim to Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome due to his past excessive drinking. Dear Agony was reported to be the first ever Breaking Benjamin record to be written by Burnley without the aid of alcohol.

He is the fourth Benjamin Jackson Burnley in his bloodline. Before him are his uncle, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather. Burnley's family has owned B.J. Burnley Company since 1967 in Middleburg, Pennsylvania. His uncle, Benjamin Jackson Burnley III, died on June 29, 2010, at the age of 54.