Richard Blackwood: I bought a gun and tried to shoot myself but my ex saved my life
Richard Blackwood has confessed he bought a gun and tried to end his own life after hitting rock bottom.
The 48-year-old actor and TV presenter – currently starring in Hollyoaks – suffered severe depression after filing for bankruptcy in 2003, and in an Instagram interview obtained by The Sun has opened up about his suicide attempt.
Blackwood told MLavontelle Presents: “In terms of the suicide and only the people that were there really know. I don't have it now and it's way past, I tried to shoot myself."
Referring to the firearm as a “strap”, the former EastEnders star revealed his then girlfriend Samia Stokes managed to save his life.
He continued: "I had a strap and I went to pull the trigger and someone with me at the time hit it out of my hand.
Read more: Richard Blackwood recalls being 'blacklisted' when he went bankrupt
"How she stopped me from doing it is that she picked it up and she goes: 'I'll shoot myself at first then you shoot you.'
"And that's how she stopped me. That's the truth. People don't really know that. It wasn't no idiot way, I put it in my mouth."
Blackwood revealed Stokes had caught him with the gun and believed she had talked him out of taking his own life.
He added: "She had calmed me down. I asked her to get me a drink.
"And I don't know what made her realise. She ran back in and knocked it out of my hand before I pulled it. We are tussling with it.
"She took it off me and I'll never forget, she said, 'I'll do it first then you do it.
"And that was it. I got rid of it. That is what happened."
Blackwood rose to fame as an MTV presenter in the late 90s and landed his own show The Richard Blackwood Show on Channel 4 in 1999.
In 2000 he launched rap career, reaching No 3 in the UK charts with his single Mama Who Da Man.
He became stepbrother to supermodel Naomi Campbell when his father married her mother in the 1980s and was believed to have been a millionaire at the height of his fame.
Read more: Richard Blackwood rules out return to Albert Square
But in 2003 he filed for bankruptcy and has previously spoken of attempting to throw himself out of a window.
Blackwood has since turned his life around and in 2015 joined the cast of EastEnders as Vincent Hubbard.
He left the BBC soap in 2018 and is currently starring in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks as Felix Westwood, the father to Martine Deveraux's triplets Mitchell, Toby and Celeste, opposite former Eternal singer and Loose Women panellist Kelle Bryan.
Blackwood previously told The Sun: “When I was made bankrupt it was hard because I was one of the first young guys from the MTV era to be deemed to have it all and then to lose it all.
"I was depressed, I was suicidal. It was very real for me back then."
For confidential emotional support at times of distress, contact The Samaritans at any time by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org.