The comedian made the revelation during the unveiling of a new initiative, Live and Not Die, convened by Kunle Pelemo with the object to address depression and help prevent suicide, the Punch reports.
“I have had suicidal tendencies,” Owen Gee reportedly says. “Last year, I tried several things, but they did not work out. It was not because the ideas were bad, but the people I was working with just didn’t let them work out. Then anxiety and depression set in.
“It was then I realised that no drug could calm depression. There was hardly anyone I didn’t take. There was a time I was sleeping on drugs. There was a particular yellow tablet that, if I took it on Tuesday, on Wednesday I would only be prompted to barely wake up, eat and go back to sleep even before I finished eating. I would not wake up until Thursday.”
The convening of the Live and Not Die initiative is timely. This is especially so as the idea of depression as a mental health issue is rather new in our clime. Practically no help is available for those who suffer from the issue and many times sufferers are told to just get over it as if depression is something one can willingly turn on and off like a tap.
So, we applaud the comedian for speaking out of his fight with depression. According to him, he was finally able to take back his life after he accepted responsibility to tackle the issue with tact and take care of his children.
For more on this story, visit the Punch website.
