Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda talks ‘depths’ of Chester Bennington’s mental health struggles

Mike Shinoda opened up about the loss of his Linkin Park bandmate Chester Bennington, who died by suicide in 2017.

In an interview at The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM on Tuesday, February 14th, 2023, the LP co-founder detailed the different stages of grief he experienced, via People Magazine.

“There were points where I felt that way … and that’s natural,” Shinoda, 46, said, explaining that he was angry. “There’s different stages of grief and anger is in there.”

Shinoda further added that Bennington’s struggles were deep-rooted and not many would have been able to understand the things that he went through.

“Nobody knew the depths of it,” he explained. “I’ve never met anybody with such a crazy childhood... just barely staying out of jail.”

He continued, “It was hard, and in the midst of all that … he’d just go missing and come back obliterated, like you couldn’t even talk to him,” he remembered. “There was an element of Chester that was very fun sometimes when he was that way and then usually the next day it would be so dark. He’s super hungover, he’s angry at everybody, yelling at everybody.”

Shinoda revealed that he even contemplated quitting music altogether after Chester’s death.

“For me, it just felt like too much,” he said. “To get back on it and try to do some version of music and also be seen through the lens of what had happened … it was like being a member of a club that I didn’t want to join.”

The band has mostly been on hiatus since October 2017’s Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington tribute concert.