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Pete Davidson has reportedly checked into a rehabilitation centre amid ongoing struggles with his mental health.
The Saturday Night Live alum, 30, received treatment for his previously diagnosed borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2023 and is now undergoing further treatment, reports have claimed.
Davidson’s mental health break comes after the Bodies Bodies Bodies star performed more than 200 stand-up live comedy shows across the United States as well as releasing his second Netflix comedy special, Turbo Fonzarelli, in January.
Speaking to People, a source said Davidson’s mental health has “always been a priority” for the comedian, who has spoken openly about his PTSD and borderline personality disorder diagnosis.
“Pete will often check himself into rehab to work on these issues,” a source told People back in 2023. “His friends and family have been supportive during this time.”
The Independent has contacted Davidson’s representatives for comment.
In 2017, the King of Staten Island actor shared he had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) during an appearance on the WTF With Marc Maron podcast.
He explained that he had checked into a rehabilitation centre in December 2016 after struggling with symptoms of the disorder.
“I started having these mental breakdowns where I would, like, freak out and then not remember what happened after. Blind rage,” the comedian said, noting that he originally thought smoking weed caused his extreme mood swings. He stopped smoking weed and entered rehab, though he resumed the habit and soon had a “really bad mental breakdown”.
Davidson was eventually diagnosed with BPD several months later. “I found out I have BPD, which is borderline personality disorder,” he said. “One of my psychiatrists… He was always saying before this big meltdown, ‘You’re probably bipolar or borderline, we’re just going to have to figure it out.’”
The Bupkis star also admitted that he was “depressed all the time” but praised therapy for improving his mental health. “It is working, slowly but surely,” he said. “I’ve been having a lot of problems. This whole year has been a f***ing nightmare. This has been the worst year of my life, getting diagnosed with this and trying to figure out how to learn with this and live with this.”
That same year, he went on SNL’s “Weekend Update” to further discuss his diagnosis and urge others to seek medical treatment if they think they have depression.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a type of a mental disorder characterised by unstable moods, behaviour, and relationships.
“As some of you may know, I was recently diagnosed with borderline personality disorder — a form of depression,” Davidson told viewers. “Depression affects more than 16 million people in this country and there’s no cure, per se. But for anyone dealing with it, there are treatments that can help.
“First of all, if you think you’re depressed, see a doctor and talk to them about medication. And also be healthy: eating right and exercise can make a huge difference.”
In an interview with Variety in 2019, Davidson shared that he’s been “in and out of mental health facilities” since he was nine years old. His father, Scott Matthew Davidson, was a firefighter who died at the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks in 2001, when Davidson was just seven. Speaking with Jon Bernthal on his Real Ones podcast last March, Davidson said that the event had an impact on his “fear of abandonment” as well as his PTSD.
“The sentence that my therapist and I have agreed on is, like, my dad told me he was going to pick me up from school on 9/11,” the former Saturday Night Live star said of the PTSD stemming from his childhood. “I got picked up by my mom, she didn’t tell me what was going on for, like, three days.”
“I had no idea,” he continued, while recalling how his mother had told him he was “grounded” and “not allowed to watch TV”.
“And I was like: ‘What? Like, I didn’t do anything,’” he said of his confusion. “And then one night I turned on the TV and I just saw my dad on TV, and they’re like: ‘These are all the firemen that are dead.’”
