If you lived through the '90s and early 2000s, you're familiar with Limp Bizkit, the rap-rock band known for songs like "Nookie" and "Break Stuff" that dominated the TRL countdown, when Carson Daly was the host of that MTV hit series and not a Today co-host. Limp Bizkit had quite the successful run during that era—the band was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album and Best Hard Rock Performance twice. Though it's been about 20 years since the height of their fame, Limp Bizkit is hitting the road again this year and their first stop is this weekend, where they'll perform at the famed Lollapalooza festival. While their sound may be the same, the band's frontman, Fred Durst, looks completely different. To see the singer now, read on.
RELATED: MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes Made Her Debut Almost 30 Years Ago. See Her Now.
Fred Durst has a whole new look now.
On July 28, Durst, now 50 years old, shared a photo on his Instagram that might shock '90s and '00s kids. In the picture, the singer sports a horseshoe mustache, button-down shirt, and gray hair.
The new look is certainly different from Durst's previous backward-red-hat, baggy-shirt uniform of the early aughts. Mysteriously, the caption of the new Instagram post is "Thinking about you 70."
Considering Durst is only 50 years old, fans are wondering what it all means. Perhaps even more mysteriously, Durst deleted all other posts from his Instagram, leaving only this lone silver selfie.
Limp Bizkit came back together after a long hiatus, and has been working on an album for the last decade.
bahadir aydin/ShutterstockDurst has been the lead singer for Limp Bizkit since its formation in 1995. The group hailed from Jacksonville, Florida, and it was reportedly Durst's idea to create a band that merged rock and hip-hop together, which certainly worked. Limp Bizkit's debut album, Three Dollar Bill, Y'all, was released in 1997 and it went double platinum in 2001.
Four years later, Limp Bizkit disbanded in 2005, but came back together in 2011 to release a fifth album, Gold Cobra. Along with Durst, the original band was comprised of Wes Borland on guitar, Sam Rivers on bass, John Otto on drums, and DJ Lethal, who joined in 1996, providing hip-hop elements on the turntable. Ever since, they've been working on their sixth album, Stampede of the Disco Elephants, which is now a decade in the making.
RELATED: 11 Bands That Went on a "Hiatus" But Have Yet To Come Back.
Durst originally wanted to work in film.
Tinseltown / ShutterstockAlthough Durst is a successful musician, his original goal was to be a filmmaker. In 2016, Flipboard asked Durst what the highlight of his career was, and he said basically having one in the first place. "I guess being able to pull off actually getting a record deal from a garage and just somehow navigating an early entrepreneur business and hustle my way into getting some attention," he said.
Then, he added, "It was a big deal for me to pull that off because I just always wanted to be a filmmaker; I thought I’d put together a band and direct some videos." Obviously, Durst's main focus quickly became music, but he didn't forget about his first love.
In addition to directing and producing music videos for Limp Bizkit, he also directed movies like 2007's The Education of Charlie Banks, 2008's The Longshots, and 2019's The Fanatic. "I never wanted to be in front of a camera," he told Flipboard. "I wanted to be behind it, but it kind of went the other way."
For more celeb content delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Durst has two children, one of whom is in her 30s.
Amy Sussman/Getty ImagesDurst has kept his family life pretty private, but he's a proud father of two: He has a 31-year-old daughter, Adriana Durst, with his first wife, Rachel Tergesen, and a 19-year-old son, Dallas Durst (pictured here), with his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Thayer.
Durst has also been married two other times to Esther Nazarov and Kseniya Beryazina, but he is currently not married.
It sounds like ultimately, the band is his love and he's forever grateful for it. "As a kid who was tortured and bullied throughout my coming of age, Limp Bizkit was an outlet to stand up for myself, so to speak. If anybody has found [Limp Bizkit] at one of those moments in their lives, that would be the most meaningful part of it—for me," he told Flipboard. "I can’t believe it exists, we exist. That all this stuff has happened; it’s sort of taken on a life of its own. ... I wake up every morning at the crack of dawn just super excited and can’t believe what’s happened. ... I don’t know when it is going to go away—meaning my life, meaning anything. It sounds a little kooky or you know, bohemian, but I just really believe it, honestly, and I didn’t always think like that."
RELATED: This '90s Teen Star Quit Hollywood a Decade Ago. See Leelee Sobieski Now.
