Ashley Taylor Dawson has lost five friends to suicide.
Ashley Taylor Dawson
The 39-year-old actor has revealed he feels a personal connection to his 'Hollyoaks' character Darren Osborne's mental health battle and Adam Rickitt's late alter-ego Kyle Kelly's decision to take his own life in the Channel 4 soap, after some of his friends passed away.
He said: "I’ve lost five of my friends to suicide throughout my lifetime, people who have been close that I’ve known.
"Three were very good friends, they were all male.
"The first one was when I was 16, and you’re thinking, ‘What must he be thinking to go through that at 16?’
"The plot was a wonderful education for me, because I was that guy who had never approached or dealt with it, never understood it."
Ashley admits the hard-hitting storyline has "been like counselling", and he now feels more comfortable discussing the issue of suicide.
He told the 'Soap From The Box' podcast: "It’s been like counselling, it’s been brilliant.
"I’m open to learning and speaking about it more throughout my life now."
Earlier this year, a 'Hollyoaks' fan told how an episode of the soap stopped him from taking his own life.
Radio contributor John was struggling during the first national lockdown last year and was planning to end his own life, but he tuned into what he expected to be his last-ever 'Oaks' episode to see the emotional reaction to the suicide of Kyle - and it "hit home" what he was about to do.
Speaking to Ashley about the episode, he explained: "If that storyline wasn't there, I would not be here. I would be dead.
"That's the reality of it. You have saved my life.
"You don't even understand how appreciative I am.
"I wasn't even going to watch that episode.
"I wasn't going to watch it because I was just going to end it.
"And I watched it. So something connected together and ... I'm shaking, because I can't believe that this has happened.
"Nancy and Darren distressed and coming together like, 'It was no mistake. I found him. He's gone.'
"I was like ... it hit home. It hit something. Imagine my mum finding me.
"It was absolutely, incredibly amazing. I can't explain it."
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