Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington faced ‘hour-by-hour’ addiction battle before suicide aged 41, harrowing new book reveals

Linkin Park star Chester Bennington faced an ‘hour by hour’ battle with addiction in his final months before his suicide at the age of 41 in 2017, a new book has revealed.

The rock band’s frontman was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, south of Los Angeles, on July 20, 2017. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging after he was discovered in his bedroom by a housekeeper.

The musician’s final days are chronicled through the eyes of his family and friends in new book It Starts With One: The Legend and Legacy of Linkin Park – with the star revealing that in his final months he felt the urge to drink again .

An excerpt obtained by People reads: “While publicly discussing his general problems with life during the One More Light press tour, he privately told his loved ones about a specific problem: the urge to drink had once again occupied his thoughts. “

“He described an hour-by-hour battle with addiction,” said Ryan Shuck, Chester’s close friend who had helped turn one of his darkest periods in the 2000s into the only Dead by Sunrise album and who had worked with him texts about his alcoholism in the weeks leading up to his death.”

Chester had previously revealed he had relapsed during the making of the band’s 2017 album One More Light, which included an “extended period of drinking” in the second half of 2016.

Chester’s wife Talinda had said that Chester “had been sober for almost six months” before his death.

The book continues: ‘When an autopsy and toxicology report later confirmed that Chester had a trace of alcohol in his system at the time of his death, he was discovered with an empty bottle of Stella Artois in the room and a glass of alcohol. of Corona that was less than half full – Talinda was not surprised. She immediately understood that the beer bottles depicted are expired. “I knew right away that that drink brought on that shame,” she said, “a lifetime of unhealthy neural pathways.”

Chester spent his final days with his wife Talinda and their three children at their family cabin in Sedona, Arizona.

Talinda married Chester in 2006 and they share Tyler, 16, Lily, 11, and ten-year-old Lila. Chester also shared sons Isaiah, 24, and Jamie, 26, with Elka Brand, and had 20-year-old Draven with his ex-wife Samantha, whom he married from 1996 to 2005.

After a final photo of him with his children, he returned to Los Angeles alone, citing work – with Talinda previously saying in a 2018 interview: ‘He was happy. He kissed me goodbye, he kissed the kids goodbye, and I never saw him again.”

His bandmate Mike Shinoda saw Chester for the last time in a recording studio days before his death.

The book, written by Jason Lipshutz and due out on October 1, reads: ‘Chester had introduced him to indie rapper and poet Watsky after egging the artist on for a while. Watsky and a few of his friends left the studio, but Chester and Mike hung around together – spending a few hours talking, coming up with song ideas and planning their upcoming shows. It was nothing special or remarkable; it was just what they had always done.”

In the wake of Chester’s death, the band released a heartbreaking statement saying: ‘The shockwaves of grief and denial continue to ripple through our family as we come to grips with what happened.

“We try to remind ourselves that the demons that took you from us were always part of the deal. After all, it was the way you sang about those demons that made everyone fall in love with you in the first place.”

The frontman had been open about his history of substance abuse, admitting in a 2011 interview that he had once been a “full-blown, raging alcoholic.”

He went to rehab for his drug and alcohol addiction after marrying his second wife Talinda in 2005 and said he really started to change in 2007.

In a 2011 interview, he said he was sober: “I don’t drink. I choose to be sober now. I’ve been drinking for the past six years, but I just don’t want to be that person anymore.”

Formed in 1996, Linkin Park rose to international fame with the massive success of their debut studio album, Hybrid Theory (2000), which sold more than 32 million copies worldwide over the years.

The debut featured the power of the four hit singles One Step Closer, In The End, Crawling and Papercut.

Earlier this month, Linkin Park announced they had recruited a new lead singer, Emily Armstrong, and revealed plans for a world tour and album.

But the news sparked a backlash, with Chester’s son Jaime calling out Emily’s ties with Scientologyand previous support from actor Danny Masterson, while his mother Susan Eubanks accused the band of not keeping their promise to let her know if they planned to reunite.

Jaime spoke out against Emily as a replacement after it emerged she had previously supported That 70s Show actor Danny was convicted of rape and sentenced to at least 30 years in prison have led to many reactions.

“People have no problem wrapping their heads around the prospect of Linkin Park reinventing itself,” Jaime said on Sunday, according to Page six.

He added, “They find it difficult to understand how you: 1). hired your friend of many years @emilyarmstrong to replace [Chester].’

Jaime said the music group “has refused to acknowledge the impact of hiring someone like Emily,” who has since said she “misjudged” the Masterson situation and thought she had “supported a friend.”

Jaime said Shinoda, 47, mistimed the announcement that Armstrong would join the band in September. Suicide Prevention Month.

Meanwhile, Chester’s mother Susan claimed she only discovered Armstrong ‘on Google’ and the ‘betrayal’ had left her in tears.

Despite alleged clashes in recent years with rapper Mike Shinoda and turntablist Joe Hahn, she claims neither has told her a reunion is in the works.