Steve from 'Blue's Clue': How Death Rumors Pierced His Heart in the Most Painful Way
Original “Blue’s Clues” Host Steve Burns reveals that longstanding online rumors about his death significantly worsened his battle with depression.
The ex-Nickelodeon figure spoke candidly about his psychological well-being issues. featured on Rainn Wilson’s "Soul Boom" podcast on Thursday , where he informed the "Office" alumnus that the "urban legend" ultimately convinced him he might be preferable off dead.
I was going through a depressive phase after leaving the show," he said. "What many people fail to realize is that during the series, as the internet started gaining prominence, a significant part of the world came to believe that I had passed away.
As various false narratives about his supposed demise circulated, groundless assertions that he had either overdosed or taken his own life left the already troubled Burns feeling even more despondent.
The talk of suicide was "the last thing you want to hear when you're deeply clinically depressed," he explained. "And when millions of strangers you've never even met claim you're deceased, it's particularly damaging for someone who is severely clinically depressed. There wasn't anything I could do to stop these rumors. To be clear, Nickelodeon found them unpleasant as well."
Although the network attempted to assist him in refuting the rumors through major media appearances, Burns found that unraveling the falsehoods proved far more challenging than he had anticipated.
As the falsehood persisted over time, it caused increasing pain to the individual involved, who shared with Wilson, "Once a rumor of this sort lingers for three or four years, it ceases to amuse. After enduring for a decade, it seems more like an entrenched cultural inclination... But when it stretches out for 15 or even 20 years, you begin to sense that people expect you should be [deceased]."
After constantly being rumored to be deceased for many years following his departure from "Blue's Clue" in 2001, the actor mentioned that he went through a bleak phase in his life characterized mainly by drinking and social isolation.
“He said everyone believed he was deceased, so he began going along with it.”
Burns managed to pull himself out of his depression when he reached a low point during his father’s illness. He came to realize, "I don't like feeling this way all the time, and I cannot continue living like this."
Interestingly, the very character that caused him immense distress ultimately led him out of the shadows.
“He told me, 'Steve turned into my mentor,'” she recounted. “Each day, watching ‘Blue’s Clues’, I'd take a seat on a chair and gaze into someone's eyes asking, ‘Can you assist me with this?’ Only when I started doing that in my actual daily life did everything begin to transform."
During another part of the interview, Burns discussed the challenging situation faced by children's television hosts; they risk being perceived either as "an unattainable saint" or as someone secretly causing chaos, with seemingly no middle ground.
"You end up divided and pushed to the fringes," he acknowledged, expressing his fear that he might ultimately "let everybody down" once people realized he was just a regular individual possessing strengths alongside weaknesses.
“The actor stated, ‘It was tough to appear as the happiest person in North America when I didn’t truly feel that happiness within me.’”
Burns formerly explained his departure from "Blue’s Clue" In a 2022 interview with Variety, When he stated, "My duty was to consistently overflow with happiness and amazement, which eventually turned unattainable."
I could always unearth something genuine for the show that met my standards, yet after countless times drawing from the same source without restocking it, there were consequences.
If you or anyone you know requires assistance, please dial or send a text to 988 or initiate a chat with them. 988lifeline.org For assistance with mental health, additionally, you can locate nearby mental health and crisis services here. dontcallthepolice.com Outside the U.S., kindly go to the website for your region. International Association for Suicide Prevention .
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