680News - Lisa Brandt

Everyone is perplexed by the apparent attempted suicide of actor Owen Wilson.

They say that genius is close to madness and it’s the laughing clown who’s always crying on the inside. Wilson is known for his comic turns in hit films including Wedding Crashers, Night At The Museum, the Shanghai movies co-starring Jackie Chan and You, Me and Dupree. He’s also a very talented writer, having been nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay, The Royal Tenenbaums. Owen and his brother Luke started out in the movie business together by co-writing and starring in the indie hit, Bottle Rocket. He seemed to have it all.

Sunday’s 911 call details have been disclosed and the call for an ambulance from Wilson’s home did come in as an “attempt suicide.” The 38-year-old actor is recovering in a Los Angeles hospital from an apparent overdose and possibly some cuts on his wrists. Reports vary. But it is clear that he was depressed and tried to harm himself.

As a society, we still know so little about mental illness and it seems we don’t want to learn more. I don’t presume to analyze the life of a Hollywood movie star, but Wilson, a legendary party animal, hadn’t been seen in public in some time. We need to recognize it as a warning sign when a friend suddenly stops accepting invitations to socialize. He had a very public break-up with Kate Hudson. We don’t know if that played a part.

We don’t really know a lot about what may have contributed to this sad situation but as Wilson pleads for privacy and time to heal, maybe we can all look around at those we love and just make sure everyone’s doing okay. Health experts say there are warning signs for depression and suicide. We all need to get better at noticing them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 8:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.