Dyna Mitte is speaking out about finding her son dead after urging him for months to seek therapy.
The mother of RJ Mitte, 34, said that the “Breaking Bad” actor had spent the weekend with family and friends before his representatives confirmed he died by suicide on Monday, October 12. She called him that morning at 11 a.m., but he did not answer.
“So I called him at 11,” Dyna said in her interview. “He didn’t answer, so I picked up lunch and went to take it to him, and that’s when I discovered him.”
A close friend later told Dyna that RJ had opened up about struggles “that he was very hurt over.” For three months leading up to his death, Dyna had repeatedly offered to take him to therapy. “For the last three months, I’d been offering for him to go to therapy, trying to get him to go there, but he was like, ‘No, I’ve got it. It’s OK. I’m handling it,'” she recalled.
Dyna now wishes she had forced the issue, even if it meant “screaming and yelling” to get him there. She has decided to speak publicly in hopes of preventing other families from experiencing the same loss.
“If me speaking out today might save someone else from going through the same situation, because a mother should never have to find their child this way,” she continued. “If I can say one person is helped, I think that’s what RJ would expect.”
She added: “We all go through some heartbreak in our life and, and we all deal with it differently. If I had known anything and could have done anything different, I truly would have. I would have given my life for his life.”
RJ’s representatives originally shared the news with Deadline, stating: “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of beloved actor, philanthropist, and passionate disability rights advocate RJ Mitte. At this time, we ask people to respect the privacy of RJ Mitte’s family and close ones.”
Dyna also reflected on her son’s time on the AMC drama, where he played Walter White Jr. From 2008 to 2013. “He truly, truly loved each and every cast member, each and every crew member,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for him to learn from anyone better.”
RJ became a prominent disability rights advocate after being diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age three. He was cast in “Breaking Bad” at 14, with the show’s creators specifically seeking an actor with the condition to play the son of Bryan Cranston’s character.