After the tragic death of Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, American actor and comedian Tyler Perry is speaking up about his failed attempts to end his life a few years ago.
In a recent Instagram video, the 53-year-old opened up about his struggle with depression a few years ago and explained how he wanted to end his life in order to get rid of his pain.
“I, like the rest of the world, am shocked by the death of Stephen Boss, tWitch,” Perry said.
The playwright added that Boss’s suicide urged him to share this message with everyone going through a hard time.
“To any of you who are going through hard times, struggling,” he said. “I’ve only met him a couple of times,” Perry said about Boss. “He was always full of life, it seemed like, such a light.”
He continued, “With that said, I just want to take you back to a time in my life when I tried to commit suicide, a couple of times, because it was so dark I didn’t think it would get any better. I had endured so much pain, so much abuse, sexual abuse, it was all so hard to just move through that I thought the only way to make this better was to end my life.”
The Sistas alum said that if any of his suicide attempts were successful, he would have missed out on the best part of his life.
“I know it may seem like there’s no hope, but please reach out to someone…call, ask for help if you are dealing with anything that is emotionally taking you to a place where you think you want to end your life,” he said.
The comedian then shared a major lesson he learned from his past experiences and said, “What I realize now, looking back on all those dark times, is, sometimes the pain is a buy-in. I know that’s hard to understand. Not all the time — sometimes — the pain is a buy-in. That’s the way I had to learn to look at it to get through it.
“What I mean by that is, all that pain, all that hell, all that struggle, if I had given up, if I had stopped, I wouldn’t have seen the better part of my life. I was buying into something, I was paying for something.”
He urged his followers and fans to open up about their struggles and depression and never let their pain overtake their sanity.
“I know that doesn’t make sense to a lot of people but for me, it was the way I was able to rationalize it, to be able to move through the pain, knowing that if I could just get through this moment, there’s got to be something better.”
Tyler also urged his followers to seek help and call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) when they feel like they have had enough and can’t deal with their pain on their own.
“My hope is that if you need help, that you reach out. Call this number. God bless you. I’m with you,” he said. “I’m a living witness you can make it through it. I’m so glad my attempts didn’t work. I’m still alive. The best part of my life, and I would’ve missed it had I decided to end it. Well, I did, but, it didn’t work.”
Perry concluded his video by urging people to end their year with love and self-encouragement.
“Let’s end this new year loving us, loving on each other, encouraging ourselves, this is gonna take that from within. God bless you. Rest in peace, tWitch.”
Let us know your views about Tyler Perry’s new video message.
Sources: Instagram
