by Chris Daughtry recently opened up about his mental health struggles and the profound impact of losing his daughter to suicide. He shared his deeply personal experience on the Spout Podcast.
The former American Idol contestant discussed how his daughter’s death forced him to confront aspects of himself he had previously ignored or overlooked.
“Well, I went through that for most of my life thinking that, ‘Oh, I’m good. Everybody else is crazy.’ And I started to really when I lost my daughter in 2020, 2021 to suicide, it really forced me to look at things within myself that maybe I had been ignoring or kind of overlooking or thinking that I had it all together when really I don’t think any of us really do,” Daughtry said. “I think we’re all, you know, from one day to the next, it’s like yesterday was great. I don’t know how today’s going to go. And we’re all, I think, capable of really dark thoughts.”
Daughtry reflected on how the pandemic period affected people’s mental health and self-awareness differently.
“I am happy that more people are talking about that now than like four or five years ago. I think if anything that was one of the I guess things that happened with when the world shut down in 2020. It forced people to really look at things and aspects of themselves,” he continued. “I noticed that it either made people get really introspective and deal with things or run really far the other way.”
The musician emphasized how this period of self-reflection influenced his latest musical work and his approach to mental health.
“There was no in between. It was like it was either lean in and go even harder in that direction or really self-reflect. And I got very self-reflective and I just started being honest with myself and going, ‘No, I’m actually struggling with this. I’m actually not doing well right now and I’m not handling things as well as I could be or I’m escaping.’ And so that all came out in this in this new record,” Daughtry explained. “I think it gives people or hopefully it gives people permission to say these things out loud because I do find power in words and being able to express these things for me on paper or in the music is essentially therapy for me where other people may not have that outlet.”
Daughtry’s openness about his mental health journey comes after experiencing profound personal losses that tested his resilience. These losses forced him to confront his own vulnerabilities.
AOL reported that his stepdaughter Hannah Price, who died by suicide at age 25, had struggled with mental illness from a young age. She faced multiple traumatic experiences throughout her life. Hannah had endured significant hardships, including being shot in the face while attempting to protect a boy from gang members. She had also battled substance abuse and abusive relationships.
Despite her struggles, Hannah was actively working to rebuild her life and was receiving treatment before her death. Fox17 noted that the family had been supporting her efforts to get back on track. This made her loss even more devastating for the musician and his family.
The tragedy was compounded by another significant loss in Daughtry’s life. Entertainment Tonight revealed that Daughtry also lost his mother around the same time period. This created what he described as a week filled with intense guilt and grief.
In processing these losses, Daughtry found healing through openness and ceremony. He shared that the natural burial ceremony for Hannah was “incredible” and became an important part of the healing process for his family. This demonstrates his commitment to finding healthy ways to cope with grief while encouraging others to speak openly about their mental health struggles.
