Chester Bennington’s family is reportedly setting up a suicide awareness organization. According to TMZ, the family of Linkin Park’s frontman wants to help fans struggling with the death of the late singer.
Chester was recently paid tribute during the MTV Video Music Awards over the weekend.
Bringin awareness over an important topic
The family of Chester Bennington is reportedly in the process of establishing a charity to bring awareness over suicide. Reportedly, they’re worried about fans having a hard time coming to terms with the singer’s tragic death.
The Linkin Park frontman took his own life last month, on what would have been the 53rd birthday of fellow musicians and friend Chris Cornell, who also took his own life in May. In the wake of these two tragedies, TMZ has reported that Chester Bennington’s family want to prevent his fans, especially young people, from suffering the same fate
“The family worries in the wake of 2 huge rock stars recently committing suicide — Chester and Chris Cornell — fans of theirs might want to glorify or somehow honor their deaths by doing the same”, TMZ reports.
“They’re also worried trouble people might view this as an appropriate way out”.
Meanwhile, Linkin Park previously revealed they’ll be holding a “special public event” to remember Chester.
“Just wanted to say thank you to all our fans around the world for the tremendous outpouring if love, which has strengthened our spirit during this incredibly difficult time,” they wrote on their social media account:
“The five of us are so grateful for all of your support as we heal and build the future of Linkin Park,” they added.
“We are working on a special public event in Los Angeles to honor Chester’s memory, and look forward to sharing details with you soon. Peace and love, Phoenix and Linkin Park.”
Remembering Chester
On Sunday, Bennington’s life was remembered at the MTV Video Music Awards, with 20 Seconds To Mars singer Jared Leto sharing kind words about Bennington.
“Witnessing his life taught me important things, especially about working relentlessly, pursuing dreams and being kind and caring while doing it,” Leto said.
“When I think about him, Chester, I see his face, which was always smiling, and I think about his heart, which he wore on his sleeve, and I think how kindly he treated me… I think about his wife and his six incredible children.”
He also urged those who had been affected by Bennington’s death to “not give up. “I promise you this, the absolute biggest breakthroughs in life lie just beyond the darkest days,” he said. After sharing a supportive message, Leto introduced a video clip of Linkin Park and Bennington performing at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.
After a few moments, however, the broadcast cut to a commercial break. And fans were not having it. Some turned to Twitter to slam MTV for cutting the broadcast.
Reflecting on mental health awareness
Following the death of his former collaborator and Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, Jay-Z opened up about the importance of mental health awareness. See BetterHelp.com for more info.
The 99 Problems hitmaker got to know Chester and his Linkin Park bandmates during the recording of their 2004 mash-ups album Collision Course, and he was saddened to hear of the singer’s suicide last month, just weeks after the tragic loss of his close pal Chris Cornell.
Jay-Z, who recently paid tribute to the rocker at his V Festival show in the U.K., touched on the topic during the second part of his Rap Radar podcast interview, which was released on his Tidal streaming service on August 25.
“Not only do we have to watch our physical health and what we’re doing with our bodies, but also mental health. A lot of people go through trauma and you’re too embarrassed to get help for it…”
“A lot of times, we tend to be like, ‘They were selfish (by committing suicide)'” he added.
“It’s like, no they wasn’t (sic); they’re sick, they’re in pain. I can’t even imagine that kind of pain, especially unchecked. We’re not dealing with that because it’s not the cool thing to do.”
The rapper hopes such high-profile tragedies will encourage those struggling with depression and similar issues to turn to professionals for help.
“These things, unfortunately, have to happen on a large stage so everyone can see (and be inspired to seek help),” he shared, branding Chester’s death “an unfortunate situation”.
“I think that we can use it and hopefully, as a society, we use that to go forward… People can start getting help for what they’re going through, talk to somebody…” he continued.
“These losses could be lessons. Someone somewhere could be looking at Chester and be like, ‘Man, I wasn’t feeling so good and I need to get some help or I need to talk to somebody about it.'”
Source: NME