On July 20, 2017, the music world was shaken up when it was announced that Chester Bennington, the lead singer of the band Linkin Park, had committed suicide. Since then, many details have emerged about his senseless and untimely death. We’re going to tell you all about the tragedy behind Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington’s death, so read on to find out the heartbreaking details.
Where Did Chester Bennington Die?
Bennington died at his home located in Los Angeles, California, which was specifically in the Palos Verdes Estates.
How Did Chester Bennington Die?
Bennington committed suicide by hanging himself with a black Hugo Boss leather belt.
When Did Chester Bennington Die?
Bennington died on July 20, 2017, and he was found by an employee. That day he was scheduled to have a photo shoot with the rest of his band members of Linkin Park since they were one week away from doing a tour in North America that would last 29 days.
How Old Was Chester Bennington When He Died?
Bennington was 41 years old when he died and had just turned 41 on March 20.
Was Chester Bennington Alone When He Died?
Bennington was found by an employee upstairs in the bedroom, but no one else was home when he decided to take his own life. He, his wife Talinda, and his family had been on vacation in Arizona, but he told her he needed to go home to work. He boarded a plane the day before he committed suicide, July 19, 2017, and headed home alone.
Was Anything Found With Chester Bennington When He Died?
The boarding pass from his flight the day before was found in his pocket and a handwritten biography of sorts was found, but anything resembling a suicide note was not found in the room. No other personal items were found on him at the time of his death.
What Was In The Room With Chester Bennington When He Died?
On the dresser in the bedroom were a few things including, an empty Stella Artois bottle, a half-full pint glass of Corona, and a pill bottle that contained his prescription for Ambien.
Bennington’s iPhone was also found in the room with him when he died on a table, and there was a fingernail found on the underside of the iPhone. His wife had said that when he was anxious, he would sit there and mess with his fingernails.
Did Chester Bennington Have Alcohol Or Drugs In His System When He Died?
The toxicology report showed that he did have trace amounts of alcohol in his system and also showed a slight positive result for MDMA, which is known as ecstasy. Another test did not show a positive result for the MDMA, so it was ruled that he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of his death.
Did Chester Bennington Have a Bad Childhood?
Bennington struggled with mental health issues all throughout his life because of his bad childhood. When he was seven years old, he was sexually abused by an older guy friend in his life, and this abuse continued until he was about 13 years old. He wouldn’t tell anyone about it or ask for help at that time because he thought he would be called a liar or everyone would think he was gay.
It wasn’t until many years later he would tell his father about this abuse and name the person responsible but didn’t want to press charges against him.
When he was just 11 years old, his parents divorced, which, combined with the ongoing sexual abuse, made him feel like he wanted to run away and kill everyone. In an effort to help himself cope with all of this, he started writing songs and poems.
Bennington would live with his father after the divorce, but he got into drugs and alcohol at a young age including meth, opium, marijuana, alcohol, LSD, and cocaine. In high school, he was often bullied because he was skinny and didn’t look like other children. When he was 17, he decided to move in with his mom, and she basically grounded him when she found out he was using drugs, but he would eventually get a job at Burger King before he pursued music.
Even further, he would talk about all of this later in life in various interviews and often described his mental state as just a bad neighborhood that he didn’t want to go to when he was alone and would talk about his history with drugs and depression.
Depression and substance abuse were often topics in Linkin Park’s music, including in songs like Crawling. He denounced drug use, and while with the band, often struggled with alcohol, and an intervention from the members helped him get off the alcohol at least for a while.
Had Chester Bennington Tried To Commit Suicide In The Past?
Bennington did have a history of suicidal ideation, and according to his wife, he had even attempted suicide back in 2006 after drinking a lot and he had left his house with a gun. This wasn’t the only incident either, but it’s one of the ones that Talinda chose to share with the cops and one she’s talked about since his death.
Was Chester Bennington Prescribed Antidepressants?
According to Talinda, Bennington had been prescribed antidepressants in the past, but as far as she knew, he stopped taking them more than a year before his suicide.
Had Chester Been In Treatment Leading Up To His Suicide?
Bennington was attending an outpatient program when he killed himself, and he had told people the month before his suicide that he’d been clean for about six months.
Did Chester Bennington Suffer Health Issues?
Throughout Bennington’s time with Linkin Park, he had overcome various health issues, and it did get in the way of his work sometimes. In 2003, when he was making a music video for their song Numb, he had to come back from Prague to have surgery for a hiatal hernia, which forced the remainder of the video to be shot in Los Angeles.
In 2007, while trying to jump from a platform at a concert, he broke his wrist, and in 2011, he got sick and had to reschedule dates on the A Thousand Suns World Tour. During that same 2011 tour, he hurt his shoulder while in Asia and had to have emergency surgery, which forced the cancellation of the remainder of the tour.
In 2015, he was playing in a basketball game and hurt his ankle, but he tried to keep going and used a scooter to get around until he no longer could deal with it. The remaining part of the Linkin Park tour was canceled so that he could have the surgery he needed to fix his ankle.
What Was Special About The Day Chester Bennington Died?
It didn’t take long after Bennington died for everyone to see the connection because the day he chose to take his own life would have been the 53rd birthday of Chris Cornell. They were very close, and Cornell had also committed suicide just two months before and chose to do it by hanging. There was a significance of Bennington choosing what would have been Cornell’s birthday to hang himself, according to what fans of both artists believe.
Did Linkin Park Continue The One More Light Tour After Chester Died?
Linkin Park obviously did not continue their One More Light Tour after Bennington killed himself, and they refunded everyone’s tickets that had purchased them in advance. At the time of his death, they had no idea if they would continue with music as Linkin Park and weren’t actively even thinking about the future of the band at that time.
Was a Funeral Held For Chester Bennington?
There was a funeral for Bennington which was held July 29, 2017, in Palos Verdes at the South Coast Botanic Garden. Everyone attended this funeral, such as his family and close friends, and all of the musicians who had played with Bennington and Linkin Park attended as well as those who went on tour with the band. There was a stage set up so that the bands could perform music tributes to him as well.
Did Chester Bennington Have Children?
Bennington did have children, and he had six children total: three of them being with Talinda, one with his first wife, and one with his girlfriend when he was a teenager. He would also adopt the child his teenage girlfriend had for a total of six, although only five were his biological children. His son, Draven, recently released F_w_Me under the name RVRND.
Who Will Get Chester Bennington’s Estate?
Bennington’s wife Talinda was the executor of his estate, and his estate will be split between her and the six children he had. It also was revealed that his first wife would get 50% of the royalties from Linkin Park, and Talinda had agreed to this and signed off.
What Was The Reaction To Chester Bennington’s Death?
The fans and public were shocked to find out that Bennington had committed suicide, although some fans saw this outcome coming since he had been so open about his depression and past issues with substance abuse and sexual abuse. Around the globe, fans mourned him for his honesty and openness in his lyrics, which inspired so many and helped him connect with his fans.
Did Chester Bennington’s Death Help Suicide Awareness?
Bennington’s death sparked more discussions about suicide awareness and mental health, especially in the music community. There are several musicians who have dealt with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, sexual or physical abuse, and other issues that were similar to those he had gone through.
CNN even aired a special called Finding Hope: Battling America’s Suicide Crisis and his wife Talinda appeared on the program to talk about warning signs that were missed and other issues Bennington had faced.
She specifically talked about the change in his behavior and the need to isolate, which were warning signs she had missed. She went on to say she had never suffered from depression and couldn’t relate to what he was going through and that she thought everything was alright. She didn’t think his going home was anything odd and was not aware of there being anything amiss during that week that would have indicated he was about to hang himself.
What’s The Legacy Of Chester Bennington?
Bennington left a long-lasting legacy behind with his ability to sing, which allowed Linkin Park to become one of the biggest bands in the 2000s. He had a huge audience since the band was a mix of rock, hip hop, metal, nu-metal, with bandmate Mike Shinoda adding a rap element to their music.
Lead singer for the band Limp Bizkit, Fred Durst, had said that without nu-metal coming into the scene thanks to Bennington and Linkin Park, he thinks that nu-metal wouldn’t have had the range it did to reach as many people.
Bennington was very honest in his music and lyrics and allowed people to see the darkness that existed, and Los Angeles Times writer Mikael Wood talked about how that will be his legacy and that he offered a bit of reassurance while in the dark.
Steve Holden from the BBC said that Bennington’s voice was the biggest asset to Linkin Park while The Guardian writer Ben Beaumont-Thomas pointed out that he was more valuable socially than he was ever given credit because he sang very openly and clearly about his issues and struggles.
What Is Chester Bennington’s Wife Doing Now?
Since Bennington died, his wife, who filed for divorce from him in 2021, has been very active when it comes to suicide awareness and mental health awareness. She co-founded 320 Change Direction and is an executive advisor for Campaign To Change Direction.
Talinda got engaged after Bennington died and said that just because a soulmate dies doesn’t mean you die too. She said she will continue to make it her mission to honor the life of Bennington so that his life and death aren’t in vain. She wants the people left behind from the suicide of a loved one to know that there is room in your heart for happiness, love, sadness, joy, grief, and everything else, noting survivors can be happy and there’s nothing wrong with that.
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From the time she was little, Florence loved listening to music and quickly learned how music can make you happy and feel fulfilled. One of her favorite memories is being in the garage with her dad working on classic cars with the local rock station blaring in the background. Ever since Florence was 3, she loved grunge music and spent hours listening to bands such as Alice in Chains, Mad Season, Soul Asylum, and Soundgarden.
She also enjoys classic rock, modern rock, nu metal, alternative rock, and old 90’s R&B. Her love of music grew as she got older, and used music to help her get through tough times in her life. More often than not, you’ll see Florence with earbuds in while she’s writing, cooking, cleaning, and doing other tasks. She also loves to debate music with her friends such as which lead singer is the best vocalist, the most iconic guitar solos in music, and what songs are really the best of the decade.