Alan Ritchson is opening up about his dark past, admitting that he once attempted suicide after being repeatedly sexually assaulted -- 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.
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, enduring years of sexual abuse while was a model. He said 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."
The last straw came when he was sent to a modeling gig at a hotel and met with a famous lensman who promised him a lucrative clothing line campaign in exchange for posing in a nude shoot.
Ritchson said the photog sexually assaulted him, prompting him to drive to his LA modeling agency and let his rep have it, screaming, "F— you for sending me there. You knew what was going to happen, and you did it anyway."
The rep flashed a coy smile, telling Ritchson to calm down. But, Ritchson ended their relationship and never took another modeling job again. He then moved into acting, which also had a serious impact on his mental health. One time, 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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