Project Runway's demanding but
lovable celebrity judge Tim Gunn says he's “very happy” he failed
in an attempt to end his life 40 years ago.
Gunn shares his story in a PSA for the
Trevor Project, a national group centered on crisis and suicide
prevention efforts for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
youth.
“As a 17-year-old youth who was in
quite a bit of despair, I attempted to kill myself and I'm very happy
today that that attempt was unsuccessful,” Gunn says. “But at
the time, it's all that I could contemplate.”
“Reach out, get help, you're not
alone, it will get better,” an emotional Gunn says, then adds, “I
promise.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
In an interview with People.com, the
57-year-old television personality said that his parents disapproved
of him being gay at an early age.
“In my parents' home, the term 'gay'
wasn't even in our vocabulary,” Gunn said. “If I tried to talk
about anything remotely related they'd say 'We've never heard of
this!'”
“But I think they knew that 'this'
was what I was, and that's part of why the sent me to shrinks
constantly.”