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ILOSM fam’ many of us know Ginuwine as the sex symbol R&B cat with hit songs like “Pony” and “So Anxious.” Many may also know he tried to commit suicide several times. But what many may not know are the heart wrenching turn of events that led to his past suicidal tendencies, heavy drinking, pill popping, and how it affected his relationship with now ex-wife/mother of some of his kids, former rapper Sole. In a past interviews, Ginuwine got real and detailed what exactly led to those dark times in his life. Check out the excerpts below:

Ginuwine On Attempting Suicide After Losing Both Parents In Under A Year

“When I was trying to do that [attempt suicide], I was going through things because my father shot himself in the head [in 1999]. And the next year my mom had died from [uterine] cancer [in 2000]. So really, I think anybody that has gone through that understands where you just don’t want to be here no more because it hurts too bad. It’s not that you’re mad, you’re hurting. And no one knows that kind of hurt unless you go through it. That’s not a hurt like you fall and hurt yourself or break your leg or, like, a breakup. That’s your mom and dad. And then the way it happened. It was unbearable pain. Like, my father shot himself in the head. I didn’t see it coming. I knew he was going through a little depression, but just like anybody, if you’re sad, you don’t think they’re going to kill themselves. He did that in ’99.” -via Sister2SisterMagazine

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Ginuwine On How Sole’ Saved His Life, But Then Left Him Early On

“I was trying to overdose with Ecstasy at one point. I was drinking. [Sole] actually threw a lot of my drugs away. She actually saved me one time. That was one of the times I was like, ‘This is going to be it.’ I bought some cognac and I bought a lot of Ecstasy and I was just going to do it. She [Sole] flushed all my [ecstasy] pills down the toilet. She left me a note, but she had left, though.” -via S2S

It seems like Sole was tired of watching Ginuwine do that to himself, but they eventually married.

Ginuwine Admits Seeing Psychiatrist For Depression While High

“I was done mentally and emotionally to the point that I had to go see a psychiatrist, but that didn’t do any good because I wasn’t interested. In fact, the two times I visited him I was high. I was depressed and felt like I had nobody to talk to that could relate to me.” -via Essence Magazine

On How He Started To Recover From Depression & Suicidal Thoughts

“The beginning process of me getting out of that [suicidal phase] was when I had my daughter, Story. When I had her, it was me saying, ‘How would she feel if I did the same thing my dad did?’ So that was kind of the beginning, but it didn’t stop. That was just me recognizing it. And I was just like, naw. But I started taking it day-by-day. Still drinking and still doing everything, but the thoughts started going away. Every once in a while I will take a swig. [Sole] don’t like to hear that, but I will. Sometimes because I get nervous onstage, but that’s pretty much it. I don’t drink no other time.” -via S2S

Although Ginuwine has fortunately moved past his suicidal tendencies these days, we wanted to share what he went through because it’s another reminder of what we always say- Entertainers have made great accomplishments, but that doesn’t make them perfect people…it simply makes them perfectly flawed and/or scarred human beings, just like the rest of us. Tipping our hats to Ginuwine for his honesty and resiliency.