Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green Remember Stephen 'tWitch' Boss: 'Life Is Precious' (Exclusive)
The pair pay tribute to their late friend as they sit down with ET to talk about mental health.
Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green are spreading the message about mental health awareness as they remember their late friend, Stephen "tWitch" Boss.
The couple spoke with ET's Denny Directo on Friday about their efforts with the Movember organization, which aims to "change the face" of men's health. The timing of the chat was bittersweet, as the couple is still mourning the death of Boss, who was found dead in a Los Angeles motel room on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Medical Examiner Coroner confirmed on Wednesday that Boss died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and ET learned on Thursday that a suicide note was found at the scene. He was 40 years old.
"We're holding up," Burgess said of how she's coping with the loss of her friend and fellow dancer. "It's a really sad loss."
"I'm hoping that it can be used as a reminder to people that life is precious," Green agreed. "It's best to just continue to reach out to the people that you love, and try and as much as possible to help them feel like speaking and being around you is a safe space."
In Burgess' tribute post to Boss on Instagram earlier in the week, she wrote to the late star, "From where we stood your light shined so brightly and radiated warmth for all of those you were near, we had no idea that from where you stood there was no light left."
Reiterating that her friend and fellow performer was "someone that you would never, ever expect" to be struggling with mental health, Burgess told ET she hopes that organizations like Movember can open up "authentic conversations" to help others in similar situations find hope in their darkest moments.
"I think there is comfort in knowing that other people are going through that too," added Burgess, who has been open about her own struggles with mental health in the past. "I did not expect such a huge response, for it to connect to so many people, and the stories that women shared with me were so inspiring and heartbreaking and I then realized just how important it is for people to know that we need to normalize this conversation of thoughts like this and take away the shame of having them.
"One of the biggest things we learned with this campaign is people feeling alone in something is really one of the worst places they can be," Green agreed. "As soon as you start realizing that you aren't alone, and that these are much more common thoughts and feelings that you realized, then you start going, Oh, OK, it's not just something wrong with me. These are pretty normal feelings and situations and so there are a bunch of people that feel the same way. I can put a team around me and we can all join together and we can all fight this together."
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
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