During Shannon Sharpe’s ‘Club Shay Shay’ podcast, internet-famous food critic Keith Lee opened up about how his his dad saved his life from a suicide attempt.
Though TikTok star Keith Lee has a deep, meaningful relationship with his father now, this wasn’t the case when he was in high school, leading him to try and end his own life.
When Lee was in his senior year, he said the lack of love between himself and his dad put him in “a deep, dark depression to a place where nothing mattered anymore.”
The food critic recalled how his dad sat him down one day and told him that he wasn’t allowed to speak to him without respect anymore, adding that the two would need to come together and form a relationship if Lee wanted to live under his roof.
Keith Lee’s dad told him they’d make it out of depression together
That’s when Lee made the decision to end his life by using his dad’s tie collection. He told Sharpe that he grabbed ten ties from his dad’s room, tied them together, and wrapped them around his neck.
But, when he stepped off a cooler and began hanging in the air, he started to regret his decision.
“[My dad] came, picked me up, took me off them ties and told me how much he loved me, and that’s why I’m here today. I would've been gone. … I understood now, like he does love you. He grew up without his father. He was just doing the best that he could do with what he had.” -… pic.twitter.com/OS16JcKus9
— Club Shay Shay (@ClubShayShay) December 5, 2024
“I’m in the air for 10 seconds. I’m at the point where you start to regress, but it’s too late,” Lee recalled. “So, I’m trying to grab the ties and pull myself up.
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“My dad sees me… this is why I tip my hat off to him, after everything we just went through, he came and picked me up and told me how much he loved me — and that’s why I’m here today.”
He said that once his dad got him to safety, he told Lee that he understood how their volatile relationship was “just a phase.” His dad went on to tell him they were going to make it out of that dark space “together.”
Lee noted from that moment forward, he finally felt his dad’s love – something that he had desperately been missing. He said, “Now I’m living for something different than just myself,” and it’s all thanks to his dad saving his life.
Lee is now 28 years old, about a decade past the time of his suicide attempt. He’s been able to grow his online following by the millions, using his fame to boost small, independently-owned restaurants thanks to his viral reviews.
Most recently, one of his food reviews took over the net. After viewers noticed something ‘wormlike’ in his sushi, his fans alerted him to rewatch the review he posted to TikTok. Lee then saw how something was moving in his sushi, leading to the FOB Sushi Bar closing two of its locations.