HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz has revealed that he once thought about ending his own life.
The 28-year-old bassist, along with Mary J. Blige, Max Bemis of Say Anything and several other celebrities, are opening up about their past experiences as part of the Half of Us campaign and a joint venture with mtvU and The Jed Foundation.
Wentz says his depression started in high school and only grew with the success of his band. He says he hit rock bottom a few years ago on the heels of a trip to Europe, when he started feeling "completely lost and out of control." At the time, he was visiting with some "Hollywood" doctors, but he says he was kind of like the "drugstore cowboy" and was mixing his prescriptions to his liking.
"I got in my car. I remember I was listening to Jeff Buckley doing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and sat there and took a bunch of [anxiety drug] Ativan in a Best Buy parking lot," Wentz shares.
"And I called up my manager because I was, at that point, completely out of my head with Ativan. And I was talking to him and I was slurring my words, so he called my mom and my mom called me and she came and got me and we went to the hospital."
Wentz made his story public to encourage more young people to seek professional help. Through Half of Us, mtvU and the Jed Foundation hope to initiate public dialogue to raise awareness about the prevalence of mental health issues on campus and connect students to the appropriate resources to get help.
"We realized that we needed to do more than just keep your head above the water," Wentz said of the help he needed. "It's not about keeping your head above water and barely keep going."
At the time, Wentz says he didn't feel like he had anyone he could talk to. He says one of the keys for him was finding a therapist that he was going speak honestly to about his problems.
"My best piece of advice, more than anything, is there are other people out there who have felt that exact thing and have made it through," he says.
"I would say more than anything, you're not alone in it," he adds. "There's ways to get through it and there's solutions to it. At the end of the day, you just need to feel safe in your own skin."
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