LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: ‘Good Morning America’ meteorologist Ginger Zee recently revealed on the ‘Quite Frankly’ podcast that she had attempted to take her own life twice before landing the morning show job.
The ‘GMA’ star has been a vocal activist sharing stories of her past mental health struggles but her latest outing on the podcast was a little more intimate and vulnerable.
Zee spoke briefly about her battle with Borderline Personality Disorder, as well as her struggles with anorexia and depression, on the podcast. She disclosed that her mental health worsened when she moved to New York for the 'GMA' job.
Why did Ginger Zee try to commit suicide?
Zee appeared on the July 27 episode of the podcast and opened up about the difficult time she faced just days before starting her "dream job" at ‘GMA.’ Constant bouts with anxiety and borderline personality disorder had been the main deterrents to the ‘GMA’ host’s mental health.
"When I got [to New York], I had the feeling, and I had promised my cousin…that if I ever had that feeling again that I wanted to just end my life that I would call her…I told her that after my second attempt.”
"I had kind of gotten out of that but not really out of it. I had moved here because I was supposed to start my job [at GMA] in like two weeks.”
Zee revealed that she instantly rushed to the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry in New York, and said that she should have gone there way before.
"10 days before everybody saw me take this dream job on national television, I checked myself into Columbia psych ward…I went to the hospital because I needed to go to the hospital because I needed help, and I should've done it 10 years before," she said.
The ‘GMA’ host mentioned that doctors had deemed her “unsafe” and wouldn’t let her leave the hospital at first.
"I could've left, but they assess you, and they were not gonna let me leave until I was not unsafe…they deemed me unsafe. That's how bad I was.”
‘Running was the therapy I didn't realize I had’
Speaking to People earlier this year, the ‘GMA’ host revealed that running has massively helped her manage her mental health.
She said, "In my darkest times personally, as my career was ramping up and everything was going, running was the therapy I didn't realize I had.”
“A lot of times it broke isolation or it gave me the natural dopamine hit or whatever it was that I didn't realize I needed more than anything."
Zee further revealed that she got hooked on running while she was in college and never looked back. This was the time as per Zee that she “felt the worst mentally.”
“I always knew that running felt good. I always knew that I felt a little better, more clear head. But that's when I realized the science behind what was actually happening when you move, and how that was an integral part and would be in the future.”
Zee stated that she goes for a run at least thrice a week and is the healthiest she’s ever been.