“For a couple of days, I couldn't get out of the bed, I didn't care. That's not me.”
Taraji P. Henson Opened Up About Suicidal Thoughts Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic
Taraji P. Henson has opened up about her struggles amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Empire star revealed recently that she contemplated taking her own life, but that sharing her thoughts with a friend may have saved her.
Henson opened up to her co-host Tracie Jade and psychologist Dr. LaShonda Green during an episode of her Facebook Watch show Peace Of Mind titled “Is the Pressure to Be a Strong Black Woman Too Much?”
“During this pandemic, it's been hard on all of us…and I had a moment," she said during the episode, which aired on December 23. "I had a dark 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 continued, “Then I started having thoughts about ending it. It happened two nights in a row. And I purchased a gun not too long ago. And it's in a safe. And, you know, I started [thinking] like, well, I could go in there right now, and just end it all. 'Cause I want it to be over. But it's in my head, you know? I thought about my son, I said, he's grown. He'll get over it.”
Henson explained that it became difficult to make the connections that her community was offering her. “I felt myself withdrawing. People were calling me, I wasn't responding. I didn't care,” she said. But it was confessing her struggle to a friend that ultimately kickstarted her journey out of that “dark place.”
“Finally, I'm talking to one of my girlfriends, and I knew, I was smart enough to say, I have to say it. Because a part of me was ashamed, Hensen explained. "I was like, I don't want them to think I'm crazy. I don't want them to, you know, obsess over me or think they gotta come and sit on me, ‘cause this one will,” she said, pointing to Jade, who agreed.
That's when Taraji P. Henson said she “blurted it out” to one of her friends. "She called me in the morning, I was like, I thought about killing myself last night! Oh my god, I feel so much better! I'm not gonna do it now,” Hensen said. Dr. Green explains that while negative, even despairing thoughts can be “normal” during trying times, having an intense period of distress can also be a symptom that something else is wrong.
Watch the full conversation below.
If you are struggling, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline any time at 800-273-8255.
This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Elizabeth Logan
