CONTENT WARNING: The following article discusses suicide.
Chester Bennington‘s widow Talinda Bennington has criticised Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office and TMZ for spreading “paraphrased” information she gave about Bennington’s mental health history.
TMZ reported Talinda had given information to the Coroner about previous suicide attempts but her lawyer later asked that the information be redacted from the autopsy report due to “marital privilege”.
It was redacted, however, TMZ got hold of the full report which said he had, “a history of depression, suicidal ideations, and past suicide attempts,” and detailed attempts.
Following the article, Talinda hit out at both TMZ and the Coroner’s Office in a series of tweets beginning with, “When your husband dies by suicide, the LA County Coroner’s office will PARAPHRASE your private conversation with them to dramatize and sensationalize the story and then SCUMBAG FILTH like TMZ post it for the world to feast on.”
“It was redacted to protect all the kids!!”
“Thanks again to SCUMBAG reporting. FUCK YOU TMZ,” she continued after noting that she had to pull her 11 year-old son out of school so his friends didn’t convey the news to him before she could.
She tweeted seperately later that it was a, “cruel violation of our privacy,” labelling it, “salicious and irresponsible journalism.”
Bennington’s autopsy and toxicology results were incorrectly reported earlier in the week by TMZ who noted that he had drugs in his system at the time of death. He didn’t and they later corrected it. The correction was echoed by former bandmate Mike Shinoda who said they had, “incorrectly read the report.”
Linkin Park are preparing to release a new live album called One More Light Live on 15th December, which will feature some of Bennington’s final live performances.
For help or information regarding mental health, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.
Fun fact- When your husband dies by suicide, the LA County Coroner’s office will PARAPHRASE your private conversation with them to dramatize and sensationalize the story and then SCUMBAG FILTH like TMZ post it for the world to feast on. It was redacted to protect all the kids!!
— Talinda Bennington (@TalindaB) December 6, 2017
— Talinda Bennington (@TalindaB) December 6, 2017
And now I get to go pull my 11 yr old out of school- because all the kids can use their phones at lunch-to be the first to tell him what REALLY happened in Nov. Thanks again to SCUMBAG reporting. FUCK YOU TMZ
— Talinda Bennington (@TalindaB) December 6, 2017
My family and I thank you all for the outpouring of support about this outright cruel violation of our privacy. As an evolved society, we can’t accept this salicious and irresponsible journalism anymore. https://t.co/SNXAEPE2py
— Talinda Bennington (@TalindaB) December 7, 2017
