Reacher Star Alan Ritchson Attempted Suicide After Being Falsely Accused Of Sexual Assault

Alan Ritchson, the star of Prime Video series Reacher, has come a long way in Hollywood since his first starring role in the long format adaptation of Lee Child's novels of the same name. Though Ritchson has been around in Hollywood since 2003, doing character roles in Smallville (2005), CSI: Miami (2010), 90210 (2011), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), New Girl (2014) and more, his breakthrough part was certainly as the mountain man Jack Reacher in Reacher, whose season 3 has been greenlit by the studios.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ritchson looked back at his career in showbiz, where he faced harrowing struggle with bipolar disorder, sexual assault and a suicide attempt that he survived.

Alan Ritchson refers to modelling as 'legalised sex trafficking'

Alan Ritchson started off his career in modelling, which he described as "legalised sex trafficking". He recounted that it was several times that he faced sexual abuse, which he shared comes from the fact that the industry is not regulated.

“There are very few redeeming qualities to working in that industry. Let’s be honest, it’s like legalized sex trafficking. The industry is not regulated, and it’s a widely known secret that if you’re hired on a job, you’re basically being passed off to a photographer to be trafficked. The number of times and situations where I was put in horrific environments where sexual abuse was the goal and the paycheck that you were desperate for in order to survive was the carrot, I can’t count on two hands. It was quite often.”

Alan Ritchson on his attempted suicide and 'divine intervention' that saved him

In 2021, Alan Ritchson made his directorial debut with Dark Web: Cicada 3301, which he also produced and starred in. The woman who he had partnered up with for the project, invited her to her hotel room one night and threatened to "destroy him by calling TMZ to claim I sexually assaulted her." The case went to court and this led to an "existential crisis" for him. "I was super depressed," Ritchson shared.

In 2019, Ritchson recalled his attempt to end his own life. He tossed over extension cord over rafters and hung himself. He recalled having a vision of his grown-up children asking him not to take his own life. He pulled himself out of the situation and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder right after. He was 36 at the time. The Fast X actor share that he has also been diagnosed with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).