TONIGHT’S “20/20” reveals the tragic secret behind the suicide of “Suddenly Susan” co-star David Strickland, who killed himself in a seedy Las Vegas motel room last March.
Diane Sawyer reveals that Strickland was a manic-depressive who had attempted suicide in 1998 – and had gone off his Lithium medication before living his final days in a suicidal haze of booze, drugs and sex.
“His mother says that much of David’s behavior was a detective story for her in terms of his life,” Sawyer told The Post. “His mom says he was like a wounded animal who would go off to be by himself.”
“Suddenly Susan” stars Brooke Shields and Nestor Carbonell also speak out tonight for the first time about the events leading up to Strickland’s suicide.
“There’s rarely a minute in any day that I don’t have [David] in my mind,” says Shields.
“I was really comforted by the fact that everything was going so well,” Carbonell says. “And unfortunately, it proved to be the calm before the storm. It really was a very deceptive period … almost like the disease had gone into remission.”
They’re speaking out because they want people to know that you’ve got to watch every moment of someone suffering from this disease,” Sawyer said. “I think they were all there for [Strickland] in every way they knew how.
“This report raises real issues of how to keep people on medication and what people can do as a group to initiate that … and how, as a community, we can react to protect someone from themselves.”
“NewsRadio” star Andy Dick, who admitted to being with Strickland in his final hours, wasn’t interviewed for the piece.
“We’re calling to get a statement from him,” Sawyer said.
“20/20” airs at 10 p.m. on Ch. 7.