Pete Davidson Says He Tried To Drown Himself As A Child

Pete Davidson did not have an easy childhood.

In a new interview with Variety, the actor/comedian and “Saturday Night Live” cast member revealed that he once tried to end his own life as a child. Davidson, now 24, was only 7 years old when he lost his father, a firefighter, in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He went on to struggle with depression and Crohn’s disease during his formative years, the latter of which he was diagnosed with in high school. A diagnosis of borderline personality disorder reportedly came later.

“I’ve been in and out of mental health facilities since I was 9,” he explained. “I tried to drown myself in the pool when I was in the fourth or fifth grade. I was trying to get my head stuck in the ladder in the deep end, so I would not be able to get up. But I’m too much of a p*ssy, and my head is too small.”

It was the tragedy in his life, however, that ultimately shaped him, with Davidson explaining that he wouldn’t be a comic now if his father hadn’t died. Losing his father — Staten Island firefighter Scott Davidson — shaped Davidson’s outlook on life, he told Variety.

“I learned what death was. And you’re not really supposed to learn about that until high school, when one of your friends falls asleep in the garage, or whatever,” David told the outlet. “To learn how anything can just be taken away from you early gave me this sense of ‘F**k it. Whatever, dude.’”

He added, “I’m able to do stand-up and f**k around because hopefully the worst thing that has ever happened to me happened.”

Davidson opened up about his mental health for the first time in September, revealing that he’d been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder in 2016 but had gone to rehab after mistakenly thinking that his marijuana use was the cause of his fits of “blind rage” and “mental breakdowns,” Rolling Stone reports. He now takes medication to manage his BPD.

“It is working, slowly but surely,” he said last year. “I’ve been having a lot of problems. This whole year has been a f**king nightmare. This has been the worst year of my life, getting diagnosed with this and trying to figure out how to learn with this and live with this.”

Davidson recently made headlines after proposing to his pop star girlfriend Ariana Grande. The two met on the set of “Saturday Night Live” when Grande hosted in March 2016, Davidson told Variety. They began dating earlier this year in May, and got engaged weeks later in June.

[Photo: Pete Davidson poses in the press room at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on August 27, 2017 in Inglewood, California. By Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic via Getty Images]