Tyler Perry is speaking candidly about his own past suicide attempts in the wake of Stephen "tWitch" Boss' death.
tWitch - who rose to fame in 2008 as the runner-up on season 4's So You Think You Can Dance - was found dead in a hotel bathroom earlier this week from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
The late TV personality's wife, Allison Holker, had told police on December 13 that she was worried about her husband because he had left their home without his car, which was unlike him.
At around 11:15AM PT, there was a call for a medical emergency at the Oak Tree Inn in Encino, California - less than a mile away from the family home - where the beloved Ellen Show DJ was ultimately found dead.
Needless to say, news of tWitch's death shocked the world and has renewed focus on mental health and suicide prevention.
Another high-profile individual who is sadly all too familiar with the topic is producer and director Tyler Perry, who's best known for his Madea franchise.
Taking to Instagram, the 53-year-old filmmaker shared a video simply captioned: "Life..." which saw him speak openly about the affect tWitch's sudden passing was having on him, considering his own experience with suicidal ideations.
Check out what he had to say here:"I like the rest of the world am shocked by the death of Stephen Boss, tWitch," Perry said. "I’ve only met him a couple of times. He was always full of life, he seemed like, such a light."
He then went on to share his own previous mental health struggles.
"I just want to take you back to a time in my life when I tried to commit suicide, a couple of times, because it was so dark I didn’t think it would get any better. I had endured so much pain, so much abuse, sexual abuse, it was all so hard to just move through that I thought the only way to make this better was to end my life," Perry said.
"Had any of those attempts happened, I would’ve missed the best part of my life," he continued.
Perry then urged anyone experiencing the same struggles to seek help.
"I know it may seem like there’s no hope, but please reach out to someone. Call, ask for help if you are dealing with anything, anything that is emotionally taking you to a place where you think you want to end your life," he said.
Perry explained how he managed to survive the difficult parts of his life, saying: "What I realize now, looking back on all those dark times is, sometimes the pain is a buy-in. I know that’s hard to understand. Not all the time — sometimes — the pain is a buy-in.
"That’s the way I had to learn to look at it to get through it. What I mean by that is, all that pain, all that hell, all that struggle, if I had given up, if I had stopped, I wouldn’t have seen the better part of my life. So, I was buying into something, I was paying for something."
He added: "I know that doesn’t make sense to a lot of people but for me, it was the way I was able to rationalize it, to be able to move through the pain, knowing that if I could just get through this moment, get through this moment, there’s got to be something better."
Perry said he is now "the happiest I’ve ever been."
"I’m saying that to you, if you are a person who’s considering suicide, ending your life, and you’ve already been through a lot of hell, please, please, please, think about what the other side could be," he said. "It could be amazing. And you would miss the best part of it going through the darkness. Don’t let the darkness stop you from getting to this incredible place of life."
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please reach out for help and contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.