Steve Burns, who was the host of TV show Blue's Clues, opened up about the internet rumour that he was dead and how it made him feel like he was 'supposed to be'.
Celebrity death rumours that won't go away despite demonstrable evidence that the celebrity is in fact alive are one of the more unfortunate aspects of the internet.
The rumour keeps going round until everyone's heard it, all the while an actual person is still going around living their life.
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It happened to Burns as he opened up about the experience of the time, 'the world decided' he had died.
Speaking on a recent episode of Rainn Wilson's podcast Soul Boom, the 51-year-old explained: "I was in kind of the throes of this depression after I left the show.
"But what a lot of people don't understand is that that during the show, the Internet was beginning to Internet and the world decided, or a large portion of the world decided, that I had died."
The Blue's Clues star said that was 'not what you want to hear when you're severely clinically depressed', and try as he might he just could not stop this rumour from spreading.
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"When a gazillion people you've never met tell you that you're dead... It's bad when you're severely clinically depressed," he told Wilson.
"And there was nothing I could do about this rumour. I mean, Nickelodeon didn't like it either."
Even public appearances didn't stop the rumour that he'd died, as Burns said he would go on talk shows 'and be like, "Hi, I'm still alive"', but even that didn't nip the false claims in the bud.
He said: "People still thought I was [dead] like, what else do you have to do?
"And after I left the show, this rumour continued and one of the most common things people would say to me was: 'I thought you were dead'."
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Burns said that after he left Blue's Clues he was living in a time of his life he's come to call 'the gray', and that for 'about 10 years' he basically stayed at home, drank a 'couple of bottles of wine every night alone' and would watch MythBusters.
He added: "Everyone thought I was dead. And eventually I started playing along. You know, that was the strategy was just... Maybe I am.
"My continued existence was an inconvenient truth, apparently... That was something I would hear from people. 'Oh, I thought you were dead. Didn't you die?'
"And when it persists for 10 years, it feels like a cultural preference... You start to feel like you're supposed to be."
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Burns ended up seeing a therapist and said he even drew some inspiration from the lessons of his Blue's Clues character.
"It's so woo-woo to say, but it's real," Burns told Wilson.
"Every day on Blue's Clues, I would sit in a chair and look at someone in the eye and ask, 'Will you help me?' And it wasn't until I did that in my life, in my real life, that things changed."
If you're experiencing distressing thoughts and feelings, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is there to support you. They're open from 5pm–midnight, 365 days a year. Their national number is 0800 58 58 58 and they also have a webchat service if you're not comfortable talking on the phone.
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film, Mental Health
Joe Harker