You know, there’s more to Jared Leto than having a reportedly huge penis or irritating the everloving f–k out of his Suicide Squad castmates. He’s also a person who can be truly thoughtful and sensitive. He is also a musician.
While countless fans were shocked and saddened by Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington’s death by suicide, we have to remember that there were people who knew Chester as a person as well as an artist.
Jared Leto is one of those people, and he penned a beautiful tribute to Chester’s life and memory.
Sometimes it takes days, or longer, to process news of a death even enough to write down your thoughts and feelings in a way that might make sense to anyone.
(Some people never do)
We’re glad that Jared Leto collected his thoughts and expressed himself, because this is beautiful:
“When I think of Chester I remember his smile, his laughter, his intelligence, kindness, and talent.”
That’s precisely how he should be remembered.
“That absolutely unforgettable voice that was at once — delicate, ferocious and always full of emotion.”
Passion fuels art, after all.
“Witnessing his life taught me a lot. Especially about commitment, about kindness, about hard work, and the pursuit and achievement of dreams and mostly, about love.”
That’s a lot to learn from one person.
“I know that both his family and his band were a massive source of inspiration and pride for him.”
Of course they were — which made his loss that much harder for countless people.
But Jared’s focusing on the positive.
“It was clear to me that he was deeply grateful for both the people that surrounded him and the life that he had.”
It’s good that he’s giving credit to Chester’s loved ones, instead of blaming them — as some awful people do after suicides.
“My heart goes out to his family, friends, band and fans. A tragic loss of an absolute legend. We will miss you.”
We all will.
This is the photo that Jared shared of the Chester that he remembers.
It isn’t uncommon for those lost to suicide to be people associated with happiness and passion.
Depressive suicide doesn’t come with an ominous dark cloud to signify its presence to everyone.
And, in case it needs to be said, people who are suicidal don’t choose to take their own lives.
Just as they didn’t choose to be suicidal in the first place.
Just as cancer patients didn’t choose to have cancer.
It’s a terrible disease that impacts so many people.
Contrary to what some vile member of Korn said about Chester being a coward, Chester was a victim of a battle with a disease that ultimately claimed his life.
Most responses weren’t anything like that, of course.
We saw countless celebrities react to Chester Bennington’s death, but we think that Jared’s was one of the most moving.
Jared Leto’s faced some criticism recently for his antics on set.
An actress with a smaller role in Suicide Squad was creeped out by Leto’s behavior.
He also reportedly played “pranks” on more famous costars while staying in character as part of his ridiculous self-aggrandizing method acting shenanigans.
At one point, he sent Margot Robbie a box with a live rat.
(That rat has been adopted and is now in a loving home, so don’t worry)
He reportedly did not try any of that nonsense with Viola Davis
The end results were a few minutes of awkward screen time as a genuinely bad and almost universally panned version of The Joker that bore a stronger resemblance to some sort of bizarroverse Justin Bieber where he’s a criminal with his own gang who wants to impress a bunch of impressionable Myspace tweens.
(The best version of The Joker is Mark Hamill, no question — after that there’s some debate)
That’s a real shame, because Jared Leto is a good actor. If only his Joker hadn’t been such a cringeworthy Hot Topic guy, you know?
And also one of Suicide Squad‘s real strengths — aside from being better than Dawn of Justice, which can be said of most films — was that almost all of the characters were true to their comic selves.
But that wasn’t the case for The Joker.
(Or for Rick Flag but that’s another story)
It’s good to see posts like this, where Leto pours out his thoughts and expresses himself outside of the context of acting.
This, this heartfelt note, is who Jared Leto is.
Of course, Jared Leto isn’t the only one who knew him who’s spoken up.
Linkin Park shared their own tribute to Chester,
There will be more over time.
Suicide is tragic and claims too many lives.
We hope that some good can come of Chester Bennington’s tragic death.
Maybe some people waging the same battle will reach out for help, or have loved ones reach out to them, to prevent a few more tragedies.
Every life saved is important.
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