In the hours following Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson cutting off communication via social media after revealing he doesn’t “want to be on this Earth anymore,” the New York Police Department is reaching out with a welfare check.
On Saturday afternoon, NYPD told The Hollywood Reporter that they were “aware of the post” Davidson made on his now-deleted Instagram and “are conducting an investigation and welfare check.” In a tweet from ABC News reporter, David Mack at 4:27 p.m. ET, the NYPD reports they have “made contact” with him.
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The check comes mere hours after Davidson deleted his Instagram following a disturbing message that prompted fans to call into the police department for help in locating the comedian and looking after his well-being.
“I really don’t want to be on this earth anymore. I’m doing my best to stay here for you but I actually don’t know how much longer I can last. All I’ve ever tried to do was help people,” Davidson wrote, after messages of support he shared about Kanye West amid his own mental health confessions.
An outpouring of love and support soon followed the post as the 25-year-old as he was trending on Twitter Saturday afternoon. Stars like, Sophia Bush, Nicki Minaj and Jon Cryer lent their support, along with his ex, Ariana Grande, who traveled to the SNL building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, to check if he needed her and has since deleted her tweet.
Am hearing Pete Davidson is at SNL and accounted for.
We are thinking of you, Pete.
You are loved.
(And just a heads up, when you finally turn on your cell, itโs gonna go apeshit for a little while) //t.co/erUaTcPSdw
โ Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) December 15, 2018
We can be so insensitive. God bless Kanye & Pete. Being flippant about mental illness speaks more about you than them. Stop saying the word love & live it. Love is an action.
โ QUEEN (@NICKIMINAJ) December 15, 2018
Point being. Pete Davidson has been very open about his mental health. And b/c a relationship didnโt work out, tens of thousands of people he doesnโt know are telling him to kill himself.
Words have real consequences. And the people who bullied him into posting this? Shame. pic.twitter.com/lUCpahlG5u
โ Sophia Bush (@SophiaBush) December 15, 2018
Pete Davidson just posted what is essentially a suicide note and the majority of the comments on it are cruel and encouraging him to take his own life. Stan culture is a huge mistake.
โ Calvin (@calvinstowell) December 15, 2018
In a report from Rolling Stone last year, Davidson opened up to podcaster, Marc Maron, about his diagnosis with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and the difficulties that poses to him each day. Davidson, who has been a self-professed “pothead” recounts having “mental breakdowns” and assumed the drug was the reason. However, upon the thought of entering rehab, doctors told him there was a deeper issue at hand playing with his mental health.
“They told me there, they’re like, ‘You might be bipolar,’ and I was like, ‘OK,’” he recalled. “So they’re like, ‘We’re gonna try you on these meds.’ And then I got out [of rehab], and then I started smoking weed again โ and I’m on meds.”
Davidson says the relief was only short-lived as he soon found himself in the middle of a “really bad mental breakdown” and announced via his Instagram how he would undergo treatment to try to shake his pot use, which he still believed to be the problem.
However, months after that admission, Davidson felt the same and was formally diagnosed with BPD. As a result, he is taking a new medication geared toward helping him manage his disorder.
“It is working, slowly but surely,” he said as reported by Rolling Stone. “I’ve been having a lot of problems. This whole year has been a fโing nightmare. This has been the worst year of my life, getting diagnosed with this and trying to figure out how to learn with this and live with this.”
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Photo credit: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images