Delilah Reveals Contents of Teen Son's 'Goodbye Note'

Radio host describes his struggle with depression
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 10, 2017 4:09 PM CDT
Delilah Describes Late Teen Son's Battle With Depression
In this Feb. 21, 2015, file photo, on-air personality Delilah Rene hosts the iHeartRadio Ultimate Valentine's Escape at Brooklyn Bowl at the LINQ in Las Vegas.   (Photo by Andrew Estey/Invision/AP, File)

Delilah Rene Luke, better known as simply "Delilah" to fans of her syndicated romance radio show, is opening up about the untimely loss of her son, Zachariah, to suicide Oct. 3. After a car accident in December that "traumatized him," the 18-year-old underwent a difficult breakup and then an illness; ultimately, he learned he wouldn't graduate from high school with the rest of his senior class. "He spiraled into depression, and was honest about it," Delilah tells People, adding that she quickly "found him doctors, a fabulous counselor and support group." But, though things had improved and he was looking forward to graduating and moving on to film school, he ultimately took his own life.

"His goodbye note did not mention sadness, anger, angst or depression, just a pressing madness about feeling like this world was not his home," she says. Zack was one of Delilah's three biological children; the 57-year-old has also adopted 10, one of whom she lost to complications from sickle cell anemia when he was just 16. Zack "was wild but so so so sweet," Delilah recalls. "He was a faithful friend to the outcast and the troubled. Dozens of his friends have written to me and told me he was like a counselor to them." She's taking a leave of absence from her radio show to focus on her family, including Paul Warner, whom she married in 2012. Click for her full interview with People. (More suicide stories.)

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