Why did Donny Hathaway take his life?
Donny Hathaway was a great singer who had serious battles with his health and mental state. During his career, Hathaway began experiencing severe bouts of depression and exhibiting unusual behavior and in 1971, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia for which he was prescribed various medications.
At one point, Hathaway was prescribed fourteen different medications that he was to take twice a day, and when he began taking medication, his mental state improved.
Donny Hathaway jumped to his death from the balcony of his 15th-floor room at New York’s Essex House hotel on January 13, 1979. He was 33 at the time of his death. Despite being ruled a suicide by the coroner, many of his family and friends believe it might have just been an accident.
