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This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988.
Alan Ritchson is sharing an intensely personal account of a period when he says his life began to unravel.
The “Reacher” star said a former business partner threatened to accuse him of rape if he refused to meet her at a hotel in Cannes, France – an alleged threat he says left him overwhelmed by uncertainty and depression.
“I’m a suicide survivor,” he said during a recent appearance at FAN EXPO Canada.
‘REACHER’ STAR ALAN RITCHSON AND WIFE CATHERINE SPLITTING UP AFTER 2 DECADES OF MARRIAGE
Alan Ritchson, star of the hit action series “Reacher,” opened up about an alleged extortion plot that pushed him to a breaking point.(Jamie McCarthy/WireImage)
“I was like in my mid-30s. I was depressed for the first time, and I was depressed because I had done everything right, and I had a falling out with a business partner that threatened to… if I didn’t go up to her hotel room, at the Hotel du Capin Cannes when I was selling a film there, great success for her company that I was running, that she would call TMZ and tell the reporter that I raped her in Cannes, and she would ruin my life,” Ritchson claimed.
He continued, “So it was like she was blackmailing me to come up, and I was like, ‘No, I’m not doing that.’ I didn’t want to do that.”
Ritchson did not identify the woman by name during his remarks.
The 43-year-old actor detailed the blackmail attempt that severely impacted his mental health and led to a suicide attempt.(Kierra Thorn/
The actor said he refused to go to the hotel room and instead took legal action, hiring a litigator to fight the alleged threat. He said the business fallout was severe and that he ultimately reached a settlement — but walked away feeling that something much harder to recover had disappeared.
“I lost everything in that relationship; she was a billionaire, and she actually tanked every bit of our business and cost me a lot, and also the threat of that looming over my head – I hired a litigator to fight back and make sure that couldn’t happen,” Ritchson said.
“I ended up winning a settlement, but I didn’t win anything because what I was left with was this uncertainty about what happens in life when you do good, you know, and like when you try your hardest.”
The actor said he “felt helpless,” and said the situation left him “really broken and depressed” and feeling like it would be “a gift” to his family if they didn’t have to deal with the fallout of the alleged scheme.
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Ritchson said he “lost everything” after the alleged blackmail.(Kierra Thorn/
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Ritchson’s comments come as he navigates a significant new chapter in his personal life.
Earlier this month, Ritchson and his wife, Catherine, announced they were ending their 20-year marriage.
Alan Ritchson and his wife, Catherine, shared that they are splitting up, in a joint Instagram post
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In a joint Instagram statement shared this month, the couple said they had “decided to end our marriage and continue alongside one another in a different way.”
The two first met as teenagers and later reconnected before marrying on May 12, 2006. They share three sons — Calem, Edan and Amory.
Ritchson is best known for roles in “Smallville,” “Blue Mountain State,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Titans.”
He landed the title role in “Reacher” in 2022, which helped establish him as a leading Hollywood action star.
