EX-EastEnders actor Danny-Boy Hatchard has opened up about attempting suicide as a 19-year-old student because he struggled socially and “didn’t want to be alive anymore.”
The actor, 30, who played Lee Carter in the BBC1 soap, made the shocking revelation in a series of Twitter posts on Friday defending drama school boss Chris Hocking, who has resigned after an investigation found dance classes were “overly sexualised.”
Danny-Boy Hatchard, who is currently starring in BBC1 drama Ridley Road, attended London-based Arts Ed school, while Hocking was principal.
He wrote: “The beginning of my first year at Arts was very difficult. I remember checking the easiest and most painless ways I could take my life.
“I felt so socially out of my depth that I didn’t want to be alive anymore.
“One Friday night in particular I made preparations to make a huge mistake, before realising that passing my onto my family wasn’t the answer. It never is…”
Danny-Boy also told how he asked his headteacher for help, who then paid for a counselor for him.
He said: “He told me I was going to be alright and offered to pay for me to see a counselor who went onto completely change my life.”
It comes after Danny’s EastEnders character ran away from his mental health problems in after a suicide attempt on the soap..
Hocking has stepped down from the role, after it launched an external review in June over “serious historic claims of misconduct”.
The investigation, which is being led by Rebecca Tuck QC, has concluded that there was “an overly sexualised environment within a number of music and dance classes”, according to a statement from the school’s chair of trustees.
The statement added: “Terms such as ‘sexy dance’, ‘wear what you dare’ and ‘naked bond’ were notorious and clearly distressed some students. They were wholly inappropriate.”
The statement from Mark Burch, chair of trustees, continued: “She [Ms Tuck] found that some staff members exercised poor judgement in their relationships with HE [higher education] students.”
