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Naked Model Who Jumped Off A Times Square Ledge Has A Message On Mental Illness

The TKTS Booth in Times Square - Photo from Wikipedia

A New York fashion model who sang and danced naked on top of a Times Square ledge before jumping off wants people to pay more attention to mental illness and empathize with its victims.

Krit McClean published a first-person account of his ordeal in the New York Post Sunday, sharing the details of an episode he had one morning this June, Fox News reports.

McClean, a Columbia University student, relates that he had exited the subway station near Times Square with blistered feet from having walked around barefoot. He says he was “overwhelmed with fear” and became increasingly paranoid, feeling that “evil people” were going after him.

The 21-year-old proceeded to his apartment on Manhattan’s West Side. Before he could get there, he saw a Times Square billboard with an ad for Express jeans that said, “Express yourself.”

Believing that going forward in the nude was the “most truthful way of expressing myself,” McClean stripped down. He then went to the TKTS booth that sells discount Broadway tickets and climbed the red stairs behind it.

Along the way, the model says,

I started collecting old gum, cigarette butts and coins — and ate it all. It was my way of disposing of the garbage.

He strutted around atop the booth, singing and dancing before leaping 18 feet to where police officers had set up an airbag on the ground, breaking his fall.

Authorities, college officials, and McClean’s fashion industry employers were less than amused at his performance. His modeling gig has been terminated, he now has to undergo a Columbia University disciplinary hearing and faces criminal charges.

Admitted to the psychiatric ward of Bellevue Hospital, McClean’s feet were cuffed, and one wrist was shackled to the bed. His other arm had to be put in a cast after receiving 13 stitches where his broken elbow had pushed through the skin.

He says he chose to go public with his story in order to show people that there is a need for compassion and sensitivity towards those suffering from mental illness. He wants “to help others with mental illness who battle constant judgments and stigmas.”

McClean is now under medication and attends therapy sessions. Prosecutors are willing to drop charges against him if he keeps up his treatment and stays free of trouble for the next six months.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a mental illness is classified as a condition that has a negative effect on a person’s thinking, emotions and mood. It may affect a person’s ability to function daily and interact in social situations. Each person with mental illness experiences it differently, even if diagnoses are similar.

One in five adults is afflicted with mental illness annually, NAMI says. For one in 17, these are serious mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. There are many contributing factors to mental illness, but experts say that it is manageable, especially when detected and treated early, and when the patient makes it his or her responsibility to get better.

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