Anthony Field, the Blue Wiggle, Reveals He Was Diagnosed with ADHD at Age 61. How It Changed His Life (Exclusive)

Anthony Field, who’s widely known as the Blue Wiggle, is getting candid about his mental health journey.

Years after Field started The Wiggles in Sydney, Australia in 1991, he started to experience symptoms of depression.

“I never had a problem on stage. Never. It was where I was at peace with the world. But off stage, you know what? [I’d] go into a deep hole and it would last months,” Field, 62, tells PEOPLE.

He continues, “But the trouble with depression or mental health, when you’re in the midst of it, you don’t understand that that’s actually happening.”

Since then, Field has gone to therapy, been put on medication, and, most recently, was diagnosed with ADHD.

“Sometimes I go off the medication to feel better, and then I plummet and realize it wasn’t so responsible,” he says. “And in the last couple of years, I’ve got the depression pretty well, but what I didn’t realize was [that I have] ADHD.”

“I got diagnosed with ADHD at the start of the year, and that has been the best thing,” Field adds.

Now, there’s been significant changes in his life — and Field finds that he’s “playing guitar better than I have for years.”

“I haven’t read a book yet. It scares me. But I’ve been to movies, and I couldn’t sit in a movie,” he says. “My mother’s in a nursing home, and I can now go visit her and sit there for longer than five minutes before I say I have to go.”

Field credits his progress to “the doctors and therapy and supportive family” — but what “really helps” is making music and surrounding himself with positive people.

“And here at Wiggles, they all know how I am,” Field says.

In March, The Wiggles released their latest studio album Wiggle Up, Giddy Up! and they’re currently on the road for their Bouncy Balls tour. The tour will wrap in Melbourne, Australia in July.

Though Field is the only remaining founding member — the original lineup included Murray Cook, Jeff Fatt and Greg Page — he has no plans to retire.

“I’m so happy it worked out how it did, and I’m so happy that I’m still doing it. And the boys, the original boys are always so enthusiastic and supportive that the Wiggles are still going,” he says.

“I’ve asked Simon, who’s been Wiggle now for 13 years, I think, ‘Simon, if one day comes that I’m not with it, and I don’t know, tap me on the shoulder and it might be time to go then,'” Field concludes. “[But] I don’t see myself retiring as long as I’m still contributing.”