Regardless of status, celebrity, or where you come from, the COVID-19 pandemic has truly affected everyone. Opening up in her Facebook Watch series, Taraji P. Henson reveals she had suicidal thoughts during the pandemic.
Henson’s Facebook Watch series, Peace of Mind with Taraji, is a mental health talk show that premiered earlier this month. Now on episode 4 of the series, Henson opens up about her own personal struggle with mental health, even revealing suicidal thoughts she has had in 2020.
In conversation with her co-host Tracie Jade and Dr. LaShonda Green, a licensed psychologist, Henson reveals, “I had a moment…I was in a dark place. For a couple of days, I couldn’t get out of the bed, I didn’t care. That’s not me.”
She then goes on to reveal that two nights in a row, she thought about “ending it.” She explains, “I purchased a gun not too long ago, and it’s in a safe…I started like, ‘I could go in there right now and just end it all.’”
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Henson even mentions how she thought of her son in her dark moments, saying she thought, “He’s grown. He’ll get over it.” As she opens up to Dr. Green about how she “felt herself withdrawing” she eventually knew she had to talk to someone else about it.
“People were calling me, I wasn’t responding,” she reveals. She continues, “Finally, I’m talking to one of my girlfriends and I knew, I was smart enough to say, ‘I have to say it’…so one day I just blurted it out, to my girlfriend. She called me in the morning and I was like, ‘You know I thought about killing myself last night.'”
Dr. Green confirms to Henson that it is “very normal to feel lonely” and to “not want to do it anymore.” She tells Henson that by sharing her experience, she “took away the shame” and validated and normalized it for herself.
The video of Henson’s brave revelation has already received 2 million views on Facebook Watch, reaching many fans all over the world and normalizing conversation around mental health.
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The National Suicide Prevention Hotline “provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress.” If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741, or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
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