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The dancer’s death brought renewed attention to mental health issues and suicide awareness in the Black community.
Dancer Stephen “tWitch” Boss died by suicide six months ago at age 40, and now his mother is sharing their last conversation.
Speaking to People, Connie Boss said the father of three texted her a day before his passing to see how she was feeling after falling ill.
“I’d been sick, so he texted to ask how I was feeling,” she said. “That was the last time we talked.”
In his final text to his mother, tWitch said, “I love you, Mom,’” and she responded, ‘I love you more,’” she told People.
On the day she learned of his passing, Connie Boss said she fell to her knees “screaming” at her parents’ home.
“I went to my parents’ house and walked in. They were just standing there looking at me, and I said, ‘Have you heard something?’ All I remember hearing was, ‘Connie, he’s gone.’ And I remember screaming or falling to my knees. The rest of the day is more of a blur,” she shared.
When Connie last spoke with her son, she had no idea the beloved “Ellen DeGeneres Show” DJ and executive producer was troubled. He apparently suffered from emotional distress before his death. Last December, he was found dead in a hotel room in Los Angeles. His death was ruled a suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
tWitch’s death brought renewed attention to mental health issues and suicide awareness in the Black community. Tyler Perry even publicly reflected on his past suicide attempts.
Connie Boss told People that suicide “was not my first thought” when she learned of her son’s death. She has done “a lot of introspection” since tWitch took his own life.
“You find yourself in a lot of introspection, a lot of looking back. Did I miss something? Did he mean something when he said this?” she said. “At this point, I’m in realization, I guess.”
Connie admits she grappled with reports that tWitch “may have been in a Black depression” during the weeks leading up to his untimely passing. His suicide was a “complete shock” to his mother because tWitch was reading self-help books and “trying to make himself better.”
She says she knows where her “peace comes from” and doesn’t harp on how her son exited this world. “This is not totally the end,” she said.
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