Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LINKIN PARK STAR IS FOUND HANGED
Lead singer Chester in suicide at home
LINKIN Park lead singer Chester Bennington has killed himself.
He was found hanged just before 9am yesterday at his Los Angeles home.
The rocker, 41, had struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and once said he had considered suicide because he had been abused as a child by an older man.
His death came on what would have been the 53rd birthday of close friend Chris Cornell, lead singer of Soundgarden, who took his own life in May.
Chester and Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson performed at his funeral.
Linkin Park had a string of hits including Faint, In the End and Crawling.
They sold more than 70 million albums and won two Grammys. The band crossed genres, collaborating with rapper Jay Z, and their Meteora was one of the biggest alternative albums in history.
Last night Chester’s bandmate Mike Shinoda has said he was “shocked and heartbroken” at the singer’s death. Married father-of-six Chester began taking drugs shortly after his parents divorced when he was 11.
He eventually overcame that addiction but his battle with alcohol was far more fraught. In 2011 he claimed to have quit, saying: “I just don’t want to be that person any more.”
The star, who worked in Burger King before he found fame, claimed many problems stemmed from childhood.
He suffered sexual abuse from an older friend between the ages of seven and 13 and said he was afraid to seek help because he did not want people to think he was gay or lying. Chester later revealed the abuser’s name to his father but chose not to continue the case after he realised the man was a victim himself.
He was also bullied while at high school. He once recalled: “I was knocked around like a rag doll for being skinny and looking different.”