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Bennington’s Family, Linkin Park Reach Out

It’s been nearly two months since Chester Bennington took his life.

In commemoration of National Suicide Prevention Week, his family is speaking out. They want to make it clear that even a person who looks happy and content could be harbouring suicidal thoughts. They also want to make it clear that life is worth fighting for.

Talinda Bennington, on Saturday, shows a video of Chester, their son and some family members playing a game. It appears that Bennington and a friend lost a bet of some kind and have to eat weird flavoured jelly beans as a consequence.

In an interview with Nikki Sixx, Talinda says Chester’s loss “just left such a gap in our world and I feel like his death is kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back with me. He’s left me with such a huge platform to be able to be heard, and that’s what I plan on doing in his name, in his honour.”

Her posts include #MakeChesterProud, originally started by Linkin Park bandmate Mike Shinoda, according to Loudwire.

 

In a video for a CBS segment, Samantha Bennington, Chester’s ex wife, and their son Draven, talk about their lives since his death.

“It’s still doesn’t feel like it actually happened,” Draven says. “Maybe he’s on vacation. Maybe he’ll pop back in… It sucks.”

 

Linkin Park release tribute video, announce final concert

In the meantime, Linkin Park has announced their final performance, a tribute to Bennington, will take place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on October 27. Pre-sale tickets are available starting today (Sept. 19) and the band will donate its performance fees to Music For Relief’s One More Light Fund.

The band also introduced “One More Light,” a song from their new album that wasn’t intended to be released as a single. Given the song’s resonance with fans following Bennington’s suicide, the band decided to release it in tribute as well.

“It has been incredibly emotional to work on this, and especially to watch it,” the video’s director, Joe Hahn, tells Page Six“I feel that by doing it, we not only faced some of our biggest fears, but it enabled us to use our talents to bring some light to people who need it. As we move forward to the Hollywood Bowl show and beyond, I think about the people who connect with the band, outside and inside our circle. This video is a gesture of good will to the people who want that connection.”

 

 

The video features footage of Bennington reaching out to fans during shows, smiling, singing. It includes the line “Can I help you not to hurt anymore?” Within hours of its posting, the video was trending #1 on YouTube and had almost 1.7 million views as of 10pm Monday.

Amber Healy

I write about music policy and lawsuits because they're endlessly fascinating.

Amber Healy has 517 posts and counting. See all posts by Amber Healy

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