Milan Milosevic: I had suicidal thoughts, my mother saved me

TV host Milan Milosevic has spoken publicly for the first time about the darkest period of his life, in a confession he gave on the show Demanti on the Informer portal. He admitted that he had suicidal thoughts and that, in his hardest moments, his mother saved him.

Milosevic, one of the more recognizable faces of Serbian television, has rarely discussed his private struggles. This time he chose to open up about a subject that usually stays hidden from the public. Without softening it, he described a period in which, as he says, he thought about ending his life.

How did his mother pull him out of despair?

In his account, he said the thought of his mother was what stopped him. When he was on the edge, he thought about how much his loss would destroy her. That image, he admits, was what made him hold on.

He also spoke about years of poverty and the weight of responsibility toward his family. For a long time he lived between Kosovska Mitrovica and Novi Sad, split between two places and trying to make ends meet. Financial insecurity and the sense that he had to endure for the sake of those closest to him followed him, he says, for years.

His confession is part of a wider conversation in which he opened up about other topics from the world of public figures and the media. But it is precisely the admission about suicidal thoughts that resonated most, because it comes from a man audiences have watched smiling in front of the cameras for years.

The 10,000 euro offer he turned down

In the same conversation, Milosevic also reflected on his days as a journalist. He recalled that on one occasion, while working as a reporter, he was offered 10,000 euros not to publish a story. He turned the offer down, he says.

That detail cast further light on the period he describes, a time when he was both broke and under pressure to make compromises he did not want to make. Refusing such a sum, at a moment when he badly needed the money, speaks to the limits he set for himself.

With this confession, Milosevic joins the ranks of public figures who have decided to speak openly about mental health. Stories about suicidal thoughts and the pressure of a life lived on camera rarely reach audiences, and when they do, they open a conversation that means a great deal to many.

His message, it seems, is a simple one. That the hardest things can be talked about, and that there is a way out even when it seems there is none. For many who follow him, that is the most important part of the story.

Should public figures speak more often about their hardest moments?