Chester Bennington — The Other Conversation We Need to Have

D’Arcy Lussier
Jul 21, 2017 · 3 min read

When Chester Bennington killed himself yesterday I was sad. Linkin Park’s music was a constant in my life’s soundtrack and the lyrics echoed back and validated my emotions during difficult or stressful times. Great musicians can create that connection with their audience. I was a casual fan, enjoying the music but not knowing everything about the band or their history.

So when I started reading about Chester’s life and story I was no longer sad, I was devastated…and so unbelievably grateful to him for being willing to share his pain with others so they’d feel validated in their own.

Much of the outpouring on social media in the wake of Chester’s suicide has been around mental health and the importance of talking to someone if you’re feeling suicidal, struggling with addiction, or just struggling in general with life. This is good, but we need to have another conversation.

Chester Bennington was a child sexual abuse victim. He revealed it in a 2008 interview with Tom Bryant:

“I started getting molested when I was about seven or eight. It was by a friend who was a few years older than me. It escalated from a touchy, curious, ‘what does this thing do’ into full-on, crazy violations. I was getting beaten up and being forced to do things I didn’t want to do. It destroyed my self-confidence. Like most people, I was too afraid to say anything. I didn’t want people to think I was gay or that I was lying. It was a horrible experience. The sexual assaults continued until I was 13.”[1]

“…I started getting some confidence back. The problem was, I also found a good way to escape the abuse of my past. Getting high, drinking a lot and having sex with a lot of great girls is a pretty good escape. I took everything. I got really, really bad. Until I was 16, I was doing a ton of LSD and a lot of drinking. Then, when we couldn’t find acid, we turned to speed because it was cheap and it worked really, really well. I got really bad, really quickly. On a normal day, my friends and I would go through an eight-ball. We were smoking it in bongs — I was doing bong-hits of meth. It was ridiculous. Then we’d smoke opium to come down, or we’d take pills, or I’d drink so much that I’d shit my pants. It was not pretty.”[2]

I facilitate a workshop on child sexual abuse and one of the things we talk about is the impact, socially and financial, that child sexual abuse has. Substance abuse, physical & mental illness, anxiety & panic, eating disorders, anger & aggression, survival sex, crime and violence…the impact of child sexual abuse is unbelievable. A 2003 Canadian study looked at 1997–1998 data and estimated the annual cost of child sexual abuse in Canada exceeded $3.6 billion dollars[3]. Twenty years later, I can only imagine what the numbers are now.

We know that 1 in 6 girls and 1 in 12 boys will suffer genital contact and/or penetrative abuse. What Chester lived through is not an isolated incident and its not a footnote in his complicated life. We need to start talking about child sexual abuse, as uncomfortable as it may be for some, in the same way we talk about mental health; otherwise we’re ignoring the unknown victims and setting up more children to be victimized.

Chester’s life ended tragically but there are so many other Chesters out there; and sadly so many more to come. It’s on us to honour Chester by being ready to help them.

If they say
Who cares if one more light goes out?
In a sky of a million stars
It flickers, flickers
Who cares when someone’s time runs out?
If a moment is all we are
We’re quicker, quicker
Who cares if one more light goes out?
Well I do
- One More Light, Linkin Park

[1][2]KERRANG! magazine, January 23 2008, via Tom Bryant (http://www.tom-bryant.com/linkin-park-kerrang--tom-bryant.html)

[3]Source: Hankivsky, O. (2003, forthcoming). Preliminary cost estimates of child sexual abuse Canada. Ottawa, ON: Health Canada.

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D’Arcy Lussier

Written by

D’Arcy writes about social issues including child sexual abuse, indigenous issues, policing, and the justice system — from a Canadian perspective.

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