Robin Williams' death set Wayne Brady on a "path to self-discovery".
Wayne Brady admits his life changed in 2014
The Hollywood star committed suicide in August 2014, aged 63, and Wayne admits that his death "really impacted" him.
The actor told PEOPLE: "After Robin’s death, I got involved in certain groups, like Glenn Close's group, Bring Change to Mind, being very vocal about mental health. And not just the buzzword of mental health, but really what do I have to do to function in this big world and still be okay with yourself and more importantly, to love yourself so that you don't hurt yourself?
"Not even just physically hurting yourself, but not taking care of yourself because you are depressed and frightened and weighed down."
Wayne - who recently came out as pansexual - has never been suicidal.
However, the actor admits that he has "empathy for those who face those thoughts".
He said: "I understand it now. I got to a point where I thought, 'I'm not here, then whatever this pain is, whatever this loneliness is, this soul-crushing loneliness, I could stop it. I could be absolutely pain-free of whatever this is inside of me.' And when I felt that, I went, 'Oh, s***. Okay. let's get to the bottom of it. Let's do it now'.
"I did all the therapy I could do. I was treated for love addiction. It’s a part of my journey. I had to start examining why I was looking for myself and happiness in a slew of people.
"If I marry this person, then everything will be fine. If I date this person, everything will be fine. I'll be good. I'll be fixed. That is obviously a problem. And so, in doing that work, I now know absolutely that love addiction is borne of trauma. I can't feel any shame around that, just like I wouldn't shame somebody if they said they were addicted to meth or cocaine. That's a sickness."
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