Popular YouNow singer Hannah Stone died by suicide in the fall of 2017, with the 16-year-old’s family stating at the time that Stone was being treated for mental health issues related to a recent trauma, according to New York Upstate.
Stone’s parents are now speaking out about their daughter’s suicide, revealing that the teen was “devastated” to learn of fellow social media star Danielle Bregoli’s record deal, which Bregoli, also known as the “Cash Me Ousside” girl, inked in September of last year under the stage name Bhad Bhabie.
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“The Bregoli deal broke Hannah’s heart, she was devastated,” Stone’s father, Leonard, told the Daily Mail. “It was at that moment she realized that her own dream might not come true.”
“It hurts, I’m beyond words or any emptiness or pain you can imagine,” he added. “I’m still coming to terms with her death.”
Leonard explained that Stone took Bregoli’s success especially hard because Bregoli’s manager, Adam Kluger, had once advised Stone on her own career, even recording demos with her.
According to Leonard, seeing Bregoli and Kluger posing together “pushed” Stone “overboard.” Stone did not know Bregoli personally, and while she didn’t blame Kluger for Bregoli’s deal, seeing one of his clients achieve success was difficult for her to handle.
“I have absolutely no doubt in my mind what was her tipping point,” Leonard said. “She reached breaking point over her career as a singer, simple as that,” he added. “It was her dream and in her mind it had come to an end. It’s heartbreaking, I’m beyond words.”
In the week before she died, Stone’s parents say their daughter revealed to them that she had been raped by a stranger at a social media convention in Washington state. While Stone was traumatized by the alleged event, her parents say she was “content within herself” and able to cope with what had happened, until she heard the news about Bregoli.
“Once the depression started, everything – things just started to bubble to the top,” Stone’s mother, Angela, said. “The rape came up, all her problems. Everything contributed to her depression and it led to her death.”
Before Stone’s death, her parents tried to get her help, taking her to the ER, starting her on a counseling program and having the teen meet with a mental health assessor.
“I remember she came home from her work at a Halloween store at the beginning of October, she no longer had the capacity to function,” Angela recalled. “I asked her what was wrong and that’s when she started about the rape in Washington and said she was never gonna sing again. I was in complete shock.”
Stone was found in her parents’ garage on Oct. 29 and died at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York.
“She was more than just somebody who wanted to make money,” Angela said of her daughter. “She was about her talent, she was about helping anybody who needed help and in the end she just didn’t know how to reach out herself.”
Photo Credit: Instagram / @iamhannahstone
