The mother of former “Breaking Bad” actor RJ Mitte has described the moment she discovered her 34-year-old son dead, saying he had spent the weekend before his death with family and friends and showed no outward signs of what was to come.
Dyna Mitte told NBC News in an interview published Thursday that she called her son on the morning of his death but wasn’t alarmed when he didn’t pick up, since he typically slept until noon.
“I called him at 11 [a.m.],” she recalled. “He didn’t answer, so I picked up lunch and went to take it to him, and that’s when I discovered him.”
RJ Mitte, best known for playing Walter “Flynn” White Jr. on “Breaking Bad,” died by suicide on Monday. His representative confirmed the cause of death to Page Six, though the manner of death remains undetermined pending an autopsy.
Dyna said her son did not appear to leave a note, leading her to believe the decision may have come in the “spur of the moment.” She said she had not been aware of him struggling with his mental health, though a close friend had recently confided in him about issues “that he was very hurt over.”
“For the last three months, I’d been offering for him to go to therapy, trying to get him to go there, but he was like, ‘No, I’ve got it. It’s OK. I’m handling it,'” she said.
She said that if she could go back, she would have taken him to see a therapist regardless of his resistance.
“We all go through heartbreak in our life and we all deal with it differently,” Dyna said. “If I had known anything and could have done anything different, I truly would have. I would have given my life for his life.”
Dyna said she decided to speak publicly in hopes of helping others facing similar struggles.
“If me speaking out today might save someone else from going through the same situation, because a mother should never have to find their child this way,” she said. “If I can say one person is helped, I think that’s what RJ would expect.”
She described her son as a “special, special soul” and said his years on “Breaking Bad” were an “incredible experience” for him.
“He truly, truly loved each and every cast member, each and every crew member. I couldn’t have asked for him to learn from anyone better,” she said.
Co-stars pay tribute
Since his death, several of Mitte’s former “Breaking Bad” castmates have spoken out, including Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn, who played his on-screen parents.
Cranston, 70, shared a photo with Mitte on Instagram, writing of his “deep despair” and calling it “especially devastating” to learn his death was a suicide.
“We were texting each other just a few weeks ago — figuring out when we could meet for lunch. I don’t know if that lunch would have changed his future,” Cranston wrote. “But I do know that I loved him, and thoroughly enjoyed being with him throughout the years on the series, and after the spotlight on Breaking Bad dimmed … I’ll miss you, son.”
Gunn, 58, said in a statement to Us Weekly that she would “never forget meeting RJ when he was only 14 years old,” adding she was “immediately struck by the depth and complexity of someone so young.”
“There truly are no words to express the heartbreak of a loss this profound, the loss of a beautiful young man who had such an impact upon this world, with still so much ahead of him,” Gunn said.
If you or someone you know is struggling, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
