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David Harewood has revealed harrowing details of the night he was cut into sections due to his mental health and battle with psychosis.
In a new podcast interview, the Supergirl and Homeland star said he heard voices and would have jumped off a bridge ordered to him.
“I did everything that voice told me to do that night. If that voice had told me to jump off the bridge over the Thames, I would have done it. I would have done it,” he said on The Diary of a CEO podcast.
‘If that voice had told me to jump off the bridge of the Thames, I would’: David Harewood has revealed harrowing details of the night he was dismembered during his battle with psychosis
According to the NHSPsychosis is ‘when people lose some contact with reality. This may include seeing or hearing things that other people cannot see or hearing (hallucinations) and believing things that are not really true (delusions)’.
Thinking back to the night he was cut into sections for his own protection, the actor and author said he heard voices and thought he might even hear the voice of Martin Luther King Jr. heard.
He said the voice told him to go to a store in Camden, which was closed, before a taxi driver alerted police.
“I did everything that voice told me to do that night. If that voice had told me to jump off the bridge over the Thames, I would have done it. I would have done it,” he said on The Diary of a CEO podcast
“You hear voices and one of the aspects of psychosis that I suffer from is that you can hear voices and have illusions and delusions that seem incredibly real to you,” he explained.
“I was laying in bed and I just heard a voice in my head saying, ‘Wake up,” so I sat up in bed and looked around the room and thought, ‘Where is that from?'”
Speaking of Martin Luther King, he added: “He said, ‘When you played me as a child, I entered your heart.’ And he said, ‘Even though I speak to you from beyond the grave, I have you and two or three other people in the world to activate something and close the gap between good and evil.” And he said, “So you’re going to sacrifice yourself tonight and you’ll become an angel. ”
David added: ‘Hey [the voice] went on to say, “Look, I’m going to tell you who I am now, because you’re going to be very scared, but you have to go to Camden, you have to walk into the store. Don’t be surprised if it’s open, it’s three in the morning. Don’t be surprised, whatever you do, don’t turn your back…” I got up, put on my clothes and walked all the way to Camden, the store was clearly closed.”
He added that a taxi driver had alerted authorities.
“I was exhausted and I thought I had to go home and hail a taxi and I had no money,” he explained.
Familiar face: David is known for his role in Homeland (pictured)
“I just remember this driver looking around and then the driver stopped and then lots of flashing lights, of course I remember the police and I was in the back of a police car and then in a cell.
“All of this was just in and out of what seemed like a dream to me. I remember sitting in this cell going to the Magistrates Court in the morning.
“I did everything that voice told me to do that night. If that voice had told me to jump off the bridge over the Thames, I would have done it. I would have done it.’
When asked how long it took for his illness to develop, he said, “I think it’s been going on for a while because I remember working and not feeling great, so I’d say at least two or three months.
“There was a slow progression of not sleeping, thinking too much, trying to hide that, drinking, sort of self-medicating. And I wasn’t feeling well, but I thought I could handle it.’
He added: “Luckily for me my friends would have been there because if they weren’t there I think I would have been in real trouble. I would have been in real trouble if that had continued. Not even sure I would have been here today so I was very lucky.
David, also the author of last year’s bestselling book “Maybe I’m Not One of This,” said he thought his parents’ divorce was the point where his mental health began to slowly deteriorate.
Struggles: David, also the author of last year’s bestseller “Maybe I Don’t Belong Here,” said he thought his parents’ divorce was the point where his mental health began to slowly deteriorate
He said he was segmented twice, each for five days, before embarking on a rapid recovery, which allowed him to return to acting after a break of about six weeks.
David has previously described how hard it was for him to have to wait 30 years to learn more about his psychosis and said it “hits him hard” to hear about it.
He said: ‘I learned all that’ [ psychosis] by making the documentary [‘Psychosis and Me’ on the BBC in 2019]and that’s why I think the documentary hit me so hard.
“It was the first time I really looked at that period of my life and got some understanding of it. Until then I had no idea it was psychosis.
“I think if someone had said that to me, I probably would have stopped smoking and sought help, but no one I trusted or took me seriously enough to do that.”
‘I had no idea it was psychosis’: David previously mentioned how hard it was for him to have to wait 30 years to find out about his psychosis and said it ‘hit hard’ to hear about it.