Musician and actor Rick Springfield got candid during a new interview on SiriusXM’s Feedback radio show, admitting that he suffered from his own suicidal thoughts in the wake of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell taking their own lives last year.
“Last year I was close to it, really close to it,” Springfield told host Lori Majewski about the possibility of ending his own life. He continued, “When Robin Williams and Chester [Bennington and Chris Cornell] and those guys … I didn’t go, ‘Oh that’s terrible.’ I went, ‘I get it.’ I get being that lost and dark.”
(Read: Pulling Beneath the Surface: On Chester Bennington’s Push Through the Pain)
Springfield went on to discuss his long battle with depression, which he touches on in his 2011 autobiography Late, Late at Night. He also discussed an attempt to hang himself as a teenager. “I tried. I don’t know how I survived it, but I survived the hanging,” he said of the incident.
It’s a struggle that’s haunted him his whole life, he reveals. “When I had kids I said, ‘Okay that takes suicide off the table, that’s not an option anymore, I don’t care how bad I feel,’” he said. “But now my kids are grown. It’s really weird … it would devastate them. I don’t know how I could ever come to terms with that. But it rides on my shoulder every day.”
Springfield has a new album, The Snake King, out on January 26th.
If you’re struggling with similar thoughts, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or enter their live chat.
Listen to the full interview below.