Last photo of lead singer of Linkin Park (Chester Bennington) before him taking his own life
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
Exclusive insights, data, and analysis for financial market experts.
Search
Have an existing account?
Sign In
Chester’s story always hits me hard.
18 months ago, my wife took her own life as well. And the way she described her depression is shockingly similar to Chester’s lyrics.
She wasn’t much of a Linkin Park fan or anything. But I very much believe that my wife and Chester had very similar struggles
Looks so happy. Just goes to show that you never know what’s going on inside someones head
David Foster Wallace put this in the best way I’ve ever found:
“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling.”
This picture shows such a beautiful smile, I’m still sad about it tbh even after all these years.
It is easier to pretend that you are happy, because the world gives basically no support for clinical depression. People think I’m fine, but I have suicidal thoughts often because of severe abuse and neglect as a kid. I keep the pain hidden for the most part because it’s just easier that way.
I struggle with depression and have had suicidal thoughts throughout my life, yet people always tell me I’m so happy and bubbly. I think it’s just a copping mechanisms that helps me get by… It would be unbearable for myself and the people around me if I was outwardly depressed, so I put on a smile and I go throughout the day cracking jokes. I find if I laugh and smile enough in a day and make other people laugh and smile, it distracts me from the things that eat at me 🙂 I think a lot of people do this, in fact I’ve always felt like Robin Williams and I are kindred spirits 💔
If I recall correctly, his wife uploaded the photo with a caption like this is what depression looks like or something like and was on a campaign to help people with depression and suicidal thoughts
It’s like this for me, one moment I’m cuddling with my 2 young children on the couch and the next moment I’m fixating on how to end it without them finding me. Will my life insurance payout? Then I snap back and I’m dad again.
I have psychotic depression and bipolar one
He could save millions but no one could save him.
he already knew that it’s going to an end soon. RIP legend.
My best friend, who was also my partner for 8 years, just ended his life a week ago. He did not have a resurgence of energy before it happened…I could see it in his eyes and face, and hear it in his voice starting a long time ago that he was in agony and trying his best. Life got so cruel to him, and in his sickness he turned that cruelty towards me as I stood beside him and had his back through thick and thin. Not out of spite, but ultimately I had to move on because I was so depressed by trying to save him from himself, that I began having certain thoughts myself. Still, I loved him and he loved me, and we were still good friends just living our separate lives. I’m going to miss him so much.
I been there, the ole pretend you’re happy just so you’re normal. Everyone smiling overlooking a waving beautiful grass field leading to the ocean. Dont wanna be the weirdo that cries or sulks or admits you think about your own fate all the time, including that very moment. So you consciously move the muscles at the corner of your mouth to produce a smile and fit right in.
For anyone else who has ever felt that way, you just gotta remind yourself that somethin’ is better than nothin’ even when the somethin is kinda painful. Being around is really still better : )
Heartbreaking 💔
Going through a bout right now myself. Hard to hang on.
RIP Chester
Fuck suicide
We’re making you proud
I hope you’re in a better place now
Edit: A lot of assholes in these comments, calling him a selfish coward. Kindly go fuck yourselves.
I hope he is in better space…… No singer can scream like him and still sound like an angel….
Let’s just remember him smiling like this and
“Leave out all the rest “
Did he have kids?
Goes to show you just never know how somebody is really doing. Don’t ever be afraid to ask, “How are you, REALLY?” R.I.P. Chester.
Is that a thing which people commits suicide are happy before their dead? I saw it here few times. They look happy. Not sad or depressed. Is there an explanation for this?
[Really makes me think of this ad from last year](https://youtu.be/tX8TgVR33KM?si=7nUa2Dgte0JWgLSy)
Those poor kids.
I tried to commit suicide a couple times about 10 years ago. I’m a million times better now mentally and physically. All the people close to me said they had no idea because I was always fun to be around.
Mental issues don’t get enough care. I remember Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell both leaving the world in about a month within each other.
That hurt. 🙁 I miss them both.
We had a talk at work from someone about men’s mental health. He attempted suicide, he was on the bridge and had let go but someone grabbed him in time and pulled him back. He said it took him 3 months of planning, subtly sorting out his finances, making sure his son had somewhere to go, selling things, organising photos all sorts of things and standing on that bridge he was genuinely happy, it was finally going to be over. If you are a man in the UK struggling please check out Andy’s Man Club,they are a fantastic organisation
A a nurse, we are told that their mood is elevated in the days before. It’s because they have a concrete plan to end things, and are at peace with the finality of it all.
I once tried and my dad stopped me but the feeling once you know it will happen is better than any meds, it’s just simply blissful peace and I was ready but he managed to stop me and it changed my life for the better and I’ve never gone back to that place, he’s pretty much been a life line and I don’t know what will happen when he’s gone, it terrifies me but I know he wouldn’t want me to die so the very least I know I will live on for him.
Never forget, this is what depression looks like.
The voices hit us when we are alone. The fight is exhausting and people just want relief. Never get fooled by our smiles in public. We see ourselves as burdens so we try and put on masks to hide. My heart aches for everyone contemplating their exit plan.
tried so hard, but in the end…. His voice and emotions really helped me through worst times in my lie
RIP Chester
I’ve been contemplating ending it all for quite some time now and as I’m reading through the comments on this post my 3 year old daughter came up to my singing my little sunshine I guess I have to man up and live through the pain
I received the news of his death while on the bus returning from my first psychiatrist appointment, since I was depressed (later found out its chronic and may tie into a late autism diagnosis) and self harming.
I grew up listening to Linkin Park, so it hit me harder, but also made me kept taking the meds, trying to overcome this illness and today I have a nice wife and kid and a life I never could imagine. I tried so hard and got so far, but in the end, it did really matters.
RIP wherever your soul may be, Chester.
There was a post, maybe in the past year or so, that was of last pictures before a suicide and they looked like this. We are confined to our own minds and those of others are unexplored continents.
None of you know the anguish he must have felt. These comments about him being “weak.” The daily struggle he would face. Trying to be something that he ultimately felt he wasn’t. Imposter syndrome. The issue becomes that when your mind decides that you are going to end it all, you get this high. This relief, the end is near, the hurt can stop. And if you don’t have the ability to stop that high? It takes you. I have been close. Too many times. And watched friends not turn off the high and go through it. It is t weak or strong. It is relief or anguish.
The people who laugh the loudest and smile the most are the darkest and most broken inside. We do it because we don’t want to feel like we’re burdening people or being a problem
He’s so happy because his decision has already been made, and he knows that all of his pain will soon be gone.
It’s part relief, part happiness.
I wish that he had reached out and asked for help.
May he have found the peace he didn’t find in life.
There are pains that run so deep, from a time that passed so long ago, that nothing can bring relief, only the end.
*This* is what depression looks like.
How long before was this taken do we know?
If you need support
Call 988
Or visit [988lifeline.org](https://988lifeline.org/)
At the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, we understand that life’s challenges can sometimes be difficult. Whether you’re facing mental health struggles, emotional distress, alcohol or drug use concerns, or just need someone to talk to, our caring counselors are here for you.
You are not alone.
The face of depression and suicide.
I’m glad they captured a bit of Chester’s light. Losing him is an incredible loss
We still miss you Chester
People need to understand that it isn’t unhappiness, that happy people take their own lives too. It’s just that things get idk, meaningless after a while. It’s a strange mindset I can’t recommend that I’m not always sure I’ve found my way out of. There have been some of the best days of my life, and I’ve genuinely thought about going 90 and slamming into a tree after meeting with friends. I’ve sped up on residential roads, there was even a tree I had as a “marker”. If I passed that tree I lived, no matter the day I had. It was a genuine choice for a really long time to drive past that tree and not into it.