Unemployed for 4 years. What should I say to an interviewer about that?

[Mystique13]

You absolutely never EVER tell prospective employers you had/have any kind of medical issues. They are biased.
Telling people "you took care of a family member with an illness" is not good either. They will assume work is not your first priority and what happens if another family member or relative gets sick? Are you going to ask for time off again or maybe you just won't be focused on work as your number one. This is how today's employers think.

I find those on here who say "don't lie about your illness" funny. Plenty of working people lie or withhold medical conditions all the time. Plenty of bosses lie to. I have worked for a few mentally sick people who had no business running one. So criticizing job seekers for not revealing private medical information is hypocritical when you have so many employers hiding this type of information and using it to take advantage and abuse their employees.

Some of MY suggestions:
You lived outside of the U.S. for a few years ("traveling") because you came into a family inheritance. Make up a good story and learn to lie convincingly. Learn about your supposed country and have some stories ready in case they ask more questions. Nobody is going to ask for copies of wills/trusts, plane tickets or other "foreign docs". If they do, then you don't want to work for such intrusive Nazis.
As others have suggested, you tried to run your own business but it didn't work out.
You were working on writing a book.

I would put this on a resume to cover the gap. Otherwise a gap of 1 year or more means your resume goes in the trash and you never even as much as get called. For instance: 2010- Present - Living abroad in ____; researching and writing a book or self employe at _____ business. Use professional wording. Google this and you will get examples on resume.

[limbo24]

depending on what level of jobs you're looking for, you may not get the chance to lie in interviews. most hr or managers see 4 years removed and they'll toss the resume. you will either need to go to places in person for delivery person or manual labor types jobs, or you have a skill set good enough that 4 years removed it's still valid. not going to mention training or school because perhaps having a part time job is what you're after.

as for what to say, pick a hobby in the arts and say you persuade it. too many people say books, i think. I'd go with you having been in a band, having gone around the country for gigs, and discovering over the course of 4 years that being on the road hunting for work doesn't over the kind of stability you're looking for in your life from now on. toss in a few mentions of made up experiences you had that make you sound passionate but controlled, and that should be good enough for any non career service sector interview.