‘Reacher’ star Alan Ritchson recalls attempting suicide after sexual assaults
Alan Ritchson said that he attempted suicide after being sexually raped several times. The Reacher actor said to the Hollywood Reporter, “I hung myself.”
Ritchson reportedly attempted suicide in the attic of his Encino, California house by hanging himself with a green extension cable. He recalled, “It all happened so fast, and I was dangling there.”
Ritchson survived by pulling himself up at the last minute before passing out. He stated that he took the last-minute choice after witnessing a vision of his boys, Calem, 11, Edan, 10, and Amory, 8, in their mid-30s. He has children with his wife, Catherine Ritchson, whom he has been hitched to for over 20 years.
The 41-year-old actor stated that he received therapy following the incident and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 36. When he was 40, he found that he was also battling ADHD.
Ritchson stated that years of sexual abuse he suffered in the modelling industry followed him into the acting profession. It “broke” him, he confessed.
“There are very few redeeming qualities to working in [the modeling] industry. Let’s be honest, it’s like legalized sex trafficking,” he revealed. “The industry is not regulated, and it’s a widely known secret that if you’re hired on a job, you’re basically being passed off to a photographer to be trafficked.”
He also added, “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.”