Manning friend says she’s safe after window-ledge tweet
BALTIMORE — A close friend and colleague of Chelsea Manning said Monday that the convicted leaker of government secrets and longshot candidate for U.S. Senate is safe after a photo on her Twitter account apparently showed the 30-year-old woman standing on the edge of an upper-story window ledge.
The photo was posted to her Twitter account late Sunday with the words: “I’m sorry.” It was sent shortly after a separate tweet that said: “im not really cut out for this world — i tried adapting to this world out here but i failed you — i couldn’t do this anymore,” among other things. The tweets did not make clear where the photo was taken, and Manning’s friends declined to say.
The alarming tweets were deleted after about 10 minutes, followed by a message on her account saying Manning was OK and asking people to “please give her some space.”
Kelly Wright, a friend of Manning who also is the communications director for her Senate bid, told The Associated Press on Monday that the 30-year-old transgender woman now needs the “space to heal.” She did not reply when asked if Manning was seeking professional help.
When asked whether Manning had suspended her Senate campaign, Wright wrote: “Negative.”
In her text message, Wright said Manning’s adjustment to life outside prison has been “extremely difficult.”
Manning, who twice tried to kill herself while in a U.S. military lockup, recently told attendees at a Berlin tech conference that she felt a “kind of cult of personality” foisted upon her that she found “really intimidating” and “overwhelming.”