Bachelorette Alum Emily Maynard Opens Up About Suicide Attempt As A Teen

Emily Maynard is opening up about her difficult past.
As we told you yesterday, the former Bachelorette just announced her third pregnancy — and things really couldn’t seem to be better with her husband Tyler Johnson and kiddos Ricki (from a previous relationship that left her widowed) and baby Jennings.
But in her new book I Said Yes: My Story of Heartbreak, Redemption and True Love, the 30-year-old opens up about tougher times battling depression as a teenager.
Looking for a fresh start, the Florida-based reality star was sent to boarding school in ninth grade in Virginia after being bullied throughout middle school.
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Things didn’t get easier from there — Maynard struggled with feeling like an outsider, especially after being diagnosed with Bell’s palsy during her junior year.
After an offhand comment to a counselor about wanting to die, Emily was admitted to the local hospital’s psych ward despite never having seriously contemplated suicide at that point.
She was sent back to boarding school after being determined not a threat to herself.
She begged her mom to return home to Florida, to no avail. Maynard penned:

“Things went back to normal, my normal, rather quickly. Which meant the same unsettling feelings of discontent and unease overwhelmed me again, pushing me down a deeper tunnel of confusion, loneliness and depression.”

In an effort to be sent home, the mom-of-two admitted to taking a number of low-dose Prozac pills, which led to her waking up in the hospital:

“I threw up so much, I filled up the commercial-grade waste basket in the corner. A doctor or nurse stuck an IV in me to replenish my body with fluids lost during my nonstop vomiting.”

Yikes.
As she remembers this difficult time, Emily said her life as a “depressed teenager” is “wild. A part of me almost feels I’m writing about someone else.”
After stabilizing in the ER and another visit to the psych ward, Maynard finally returned home. She reflected on the initial car ride with her family:

“No one said a word. No one mentioned the pills. The emergency room. That other place. Maybe it was better that way. We could all pretend it never happened.”

Wow. So sad.
We commend Emily for having the courage to share her story!
[Image via Instagram.]