Chase Bryant opens up about overcoming depression and surviving a suicide attempt

TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact Beyond Blue at 1300 22 4636 or go to https://www.beyondblue.org.au.

Chase Bryant has opened up for the first time about surviving his suicide attempt, hoping that by sharing his story, it will help others going through a similar struggle.

By 2018, the 27-year-old American singer-songwriter had released charting singles, a successful debut EP and was touring with the likes of Tim McGraw and Brantley Gilbert – essentially from the outside, he was living the country music dream. Yet despite his success, he was tired of being told what to do, wondering if he would ever be good enough and most of all, he had had enough of being someone he was not.

In the emotional video posted on his social media, Bryant explains, “I was a very confused individual. I was very cocky, I was very arrogant, I was sick, very sick. I would look at myself in the mirror and I saw somebody that I didn’t know and that led me down a pretty dark hole for a really long time.”

In a new interview with People, he opened up for the first time about surviving the attempt to take his own life, which took place in his truck at a Nashville petrol station where he would ultimately place the barrel of his loaded .357 revolver to his head.

In a twist of fate that Bryant still can’t believe, he thought he had loaded six bullets into the gun’s chamber, but had only loaded five, and the empty chamber was the one that fired.

He says, “At that moment, I begged for somebody to listen and I begged for somebody to just come down and help me. I just screamed out the word 'sorry' as loud as I could, and I pulled the trigger… and here I am."

“So, when I looked at it at that moment, it was like life's too short, don't make it any shorter. It ain't worth it. We all have something to be thankful for, right? Looking back at it now, it's so weird. You're so dark and then all of a sudden you're like, 'OK, I got to get my s— right so I can help somebody else.’"

As a result of being bullied while at school, Bryant said he struggled with depression and anxiety. But says it in 2017, after opening up for Brad Paisley on his Weekend Warrior World Tour, that things began to feel like they were falling apart.

“I was just trying to do whatever I could do to get that part of my life over with. I knew what I needed to do. And at the time, for me, it was like what I needed to do was just peace out. That was it. I don’t know how nobody could see that. And I guess I did a pretty good job at hiding it.”

Following his suicide attempt, the Texas-native was admitted to Rolling Hills Hospital, a psychiatric and substance abuse treatment centre in Franklin, Tennessee. He is now preparing to release his debut album, Upbringing and hopes to help others who are going through a similar struggle that he once did.

“When I think about it, I want to be that one empty chamber for somebody. I want to be that one shot of fulfillment or hope. I hope that this takes that bullet out of somebody's life. I hope this takes it away. Maybe somebody sees this, somebody that's going through something and says, 'You know what? There is hope,' because there really is."

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact Beyond Blue at 1300 22 4636 or go to https://www.beyondblue.org.au.

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Image via chasebryant.com