Pete Davidson Posts to Instagram About Being Shamed for Having Borderline Personality Disorder

Update: Ariana Grande posted Davidson’s note to her Instagram story with a reminder to her fans to be gentle online. See what she wrote here.

Aside from Ariana Grande releasing a new song, “thank u, next,” and Pete Davidson making a few jokes on Saturday Night Live, neither star has spoken in depth about their whirlwind romance that ended in October.

But on Monday, Davidson posted on Instagram about being bullied (again) for having borderline personality disorder (BPD) in the months after his breakup. He wrote:

I’ve been getting online bullied and in public by people for 9 months. I’ve spoken about BPD and being suicidal publicly only in the hopes that it will help bring awareness and help kids like myself who don’t want to be on this earth. I just want you guys to know. No matter how hard the internet or anyone tries to make me kill myself. I won’t. I’m upset I even have to say this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq7wFi9gjOH/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=16c8jcd4hht6a

Chronic suicidality is one of the nine classic symptoms of BPD. Around 80 percent of people with BPD attempt suicide at some point in their lives.

Suicidal thoughts and attempts are such a significant problem for the BPD community. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that up to 9 percent of people with BPD die by suicide. BPD trails just behind anorexia which, at 10 percent, is the mental illness with the highest mortality rate.

This isn’t the first time Davidson has been shamed for having borderline personality disorder. In May when it was first reported that Grande and Davidson were dating, Twitter users were quick to say Grande had left one “toxic” relationship (referring to her relationship with the now-deceased rapper Mac Miller) for another, implying people like Davidson with BPD can’t be in loving relationships.

He responded May 24 on Instagram:

i been hearing a lot of ‘people with bpd can’t be in relationships’ talk. i just wanna let you know that’s not true,” the comedian wrote in an Instagram story. “just because someone has a mental illness does not mean they can’t be happy and in a relationship. it also doesn’t mean that person makes the relationship toxic.

Despite the bullying, Davidson is committed to his recovery. At the end of his most recent Instagram post, he wrote, “To all those holding me down and seeing this for what it is – I see you and I love you.”