Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus admitted to contemplating suicide during his battle against cancer in an interview published Wednesday.
Hoppus said in an interview with People that suffered through a deep depression during his cancer treatment after being diagnosed with lymphoma in April 2021. “I was in our living room crying and telling my wife, ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’ ” Hoppus told the outlet. “She was like, ‘Well, what are you going to do, kill yourself?’ And that’s exactly what I was thinking. It was pretty dark.”
Mark Hoppus Reveals How He Overcame a Deep Depression During Chemo: ‘I Have a Second Shot at Life’ https://t.co/fr1YV6oH7Z
— People (@people) August 17, 2022
Hoppus recalled that conversation with Skye as being “a total snap-out-of-it moment,” according to People.
“I was like, ‘What a shitty thing to say.’ But also, what a kind thing to say, like, ‘Snap out of it, you fucking baby. You have a beatable form of cancer. It’s going to suck to get there, but get there.’ I had to do the work,” Hoppus said. He admitted to harboring feelings of hopelessness and struggling through treatment.
Hoppus then spoke about an error he made on social media, which also helped him dig out of his darkest thoughts. After deciding to keep his cancer journey private, Hoppus accidentally posted a photograph of himself receiving chemo treatment to his social media page, rather than sending it directly to his friends, which was his intention, according to People.
“I thought that once people found out, it would just be like, ‘Haha, f*ck you. You’re going to die’ — just the shitty side of the Internet. Instead, everyone was like, ‘You’re going to get through this,'” Hoppus told People. “It was this rad outpouring of support from strangers. It gave me so much strength and so much hope.”(RELATED: Brother Of Marine Killed In Afghanistan Withdrawal Commits Suicide Days Shy Of Memorial)
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The artist opened up about some of his most challenging moments. “The chemotherapy was brutal. I had no energy and ended up being on the couch just trying to get through the day,” Hoppus said.
“I had the worst brain fog. We were sitting at dinner with friends that we’ve known for years, and I’m looking at the husband across the table, thinking to myself, ‘I can’t remember your first name.’ And it was like that all the time. I still feel it once every couple days — I’ll forget a word — but it’s much better,” the bassist said.
Hoppus was declared cancer-free on Sept. 29, 2021, exactly five months after being diagnosed, according to People.
“I feel like I have a second shot at life,” he told the outlet.