In a candid interview, Taraji P. Henson opened up about a “dark moment” in lockdown where she thought about killing herself.
On Wednesday’s episode of “Peace of Mind with Taraji” on Facebook Watch, Henson discussed her recent mental anguish with her guest Dr. LaShonda Green.
“So during this pandemic, it’s been hard on all of us and I had a moment. I had a dark moment. I was in a dark place,” said Henson. “For a couple of days, I couldn’t get out of bed, I didn’t care. That’s not me. Then, I started having thoughts about ending it.”
“It happened two nights in a row and I purchased a gun not too long ago, it’s in a safe, and I started like, ‘I could go in there right now and end it all, because I want it to be over,'” she added.
“I thought about my son, he’s grown, he’ll get over it. I didn’t care,” she continued. “I felt myself withdrawing. People were calling me, I wasn’t responding, I didn’t care.”
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The actress went on to say that admitted how she was feeling to friends have her a sense of relief, “I just blurted it out, ‘I thought about killing myself.'”
“I felt like, if I don’t say it, it becomes a plan,” she explained. “What scared me is I did it two nights in a row. First, it was like, ‘I don’t wanna be here.’ Then I started thinking about going to get the gun and that’s why when I woke up the next morning, I blurted it out.”
Dr. Green said it was “very normal to feel lonely, to not want to do it anymore” and “there are so many things that we think are wrong, that are unhealthy, that are absolutely normal” – especially at a time like the current pandemic.
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“You don’t have to believe every thought you have,” she added.
Reality TV star Tamar Braxton also opened up about her own suicidal thoughts earlier this week on the show.
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.
The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Depression Hurts and Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 all offer ways of getting help if you, or someone you know, may be suffering from mental health issues.
