‘Don’t let the darkness stop you:’ Tyler Perry opens up about his suicide attempts, tWitch’s death

ATLANTA — WARNING: This story contains descriptions of self-harm and suicidal thoughts. If you, or someone you know, is thinking of harming themselves, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free support via the Lifeline by dialing 988. Visit the organization’s official website for risk factors and warning signs.

Atlanta media mogul Tyler Perry opened up about his own suicide attempts after the death of DJ and choreographer Stephen “tWitch” boss.

Boss, who was known for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “So You Think You can Dance,” died by suicide Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 40.

Perry joined hundreds of celebrities offering their condolences to Boss’ wife Allison and their three children.

“I only met him a couple of times. He was always full of life, it seemed like, such a light,” he said.

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The news of tWitch’s death also brought Perry back to attempts to take his own life, citing his pain and sexual abuse.

“It was so dark...It was hard to move through that. I thought the only way to make it better, make this pain go away was to end my life.”

Perry said if any of those attempts had been successful, he would have missed on the best parts of his life. He urged anyone who is feeling suicidal to call for help.

“I know you may be going through some things, I know it may seem like there’s no hope. But please, reach out to someone,” Perry said. “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.”

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Perry ended his video saying he is the happiest he has been in his life and full of love and things he thought he would never get to experience.

“If you are a person who’s considering suicide, ending your life, you’ve already been through a lot of hell, please, please, please, think about what the other side could be. It could be amazing. And you would miss the best part of it going through the darkness. Don’t let the darkness stop you from getting to this incredible place of life.”

Perry posted a caption on the video with the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

988 lifeline for suicidal crisis, warning signs and preventive actions If you or someone you know is thinking of harming themselves, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free support at 1-800-273-8255. (NCD)

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