Alan Ritchson is opening up about his dark past, admitting that he once attempted suicide during a depressing period — but his sons saved him.
The “Reacher” actor recently sat down with the Hollywood Reporter and gave a wide-ranging interview that included his shocking confession that he tried to hang himself.
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Ritchson told the outlet that, in 2019, he went to the attic of his California home and climbed up to the top of a loft, tossing one end of an extension cord over the rafters and securing it.
Then Ritchson said he tied the other end of the cord around his neck and “let go,” trying to hang himself.
But, Ritchson suddenly had what he called a moment of “divine intervention,” seeing a vision of his 3 adolescent sons as adults in their mid-30s.
In the vision, his sons calmly asked Ritchson not to kill himself, encouraging him to stay alive so he could be with them.
That was all it took for Ritchson to change his mind and pull himself up before he fell unconscious – thanks to his athletic abilities.
Ritchson said he had been going through a horrible period, suffering years of sexual abuse while was a model. He bluntly stated there were few redeeming qualities about the modeling industry, calling it “legalized sex trafficking” because it’s unregulated.
He also said it’s widely known that you will be passed off to a photog for sex trafficking once you’re hired for a job
Ritchson summed up his experience this way, “The number of times and situations where I was put in horrific environments where sexual abuse was the goal and the paycheck that you were desperate for in order to survive was the carrot, I can’t count on two hands. It was quite often.”
After one too many sexual assaults, he decided to quit the modeling industry altogether and move into acting, which had a serious impact on his mental health. Onetime, a female colleague threatened to falsely accuse him of sexual assault.
Right after the suicide attempt, Ritchson said a doctor diagnosed him with bipolar disorder.
Scary stuff.
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