Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has recalled two attempts at suicide while he was a teenager – and offered a message of hope for others who struggle with depression.
He began self-harming around the age of 17 as he spent two years living under a bridge in his home town of Des Moines, Iowa, and wasn’t able to escape from his mental health issues through writing.
Taylor tells the You Rock Foundation: “The only thing that really helped was writing. It felt like when I was writing I could work it out and really be able to get my head around it.
“I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have any notebooks. It was a really, really dark time for me. I definitely got to the point where I was ready to end it all – I had the razor in my hand and I started cutting myself. But it was a pressure valve kind of situation, where it wasn’t like I was going to end it; I just needed to feel something real to snap me out of it.”
He later swallowed “a bunch of pills” in a more serious attempt. He remembers: “My grandma took me to the hospital, they fed me ipecac, I threw up, then they had to force-feed me liquid charcoal to get my stomach to settle down.That was probably the lowest moment of my life – because I’d done it to myself.”
Taylor’s message to others who find themselves in a similar position: “There is always light at the end of the tunnel. It’s all temporary. Pain is temporary; depression is temporary. You are stronger than you know…you can get through it.”
Suicide as a result of depression remains the third-biggest cause of death among people aged 15 to 24 in the US. Help is always available via the You Rock Foundation and the Suicide Prevention Lifeline. In the UK, the NHS recommend a number of places to find support, saying: “It’s important to know you are not beyond help and you are not alone.”
