Why did Spalding Gray kill himself? Was he taking anti depressants?

Answer 1

In June 2001 he suffered severe injuries in a car crash while on holiday in Ireland. In January 2004, Gray, known to suffer bouts of depression in part as a result of these injuries, was declared missing. The night before his disappearance he had seen Tim Burton's film Big Fish, which ends with the line "A man tells a story over and over so many times he becomes the story. In that way, he is immortal." Gray's widow, Kathie Russo, has said “You know, Spalding cried after he saw that movie. I just think it gave him permission. I think it gave him permission to die.” (New York Magazine Feb 2, 2004)
When Gray was first declared missing his profile was featured on the FOX show "America's Most Wanted".
On March 7, 2004, the New York City medical examiner's office reported that at 3:00 Spalding Gray's body had been pulled from the East River. It is believed that he jumped off the side of the Staten Island Ferry. In light of a suicide attempt in 2002, and the fact that his mother had taken her own life in 1967, suicide was the suspected cause of death. It was reported that Gray was working on a new monologue at the time of his death, and that the subject matter of the piece – the Ireland car crash and his subsequent attempts to recover from his injuries – might have triggered his final bout of depression.

Gray was survived by his wife, Kathie Russo, three children, and his brothers Rockwell Gray, an English professor in St. Louis, Missouri, and Channing Gray, arts writer for the Providence Journal.

Answer 2

Yes he was. He suffered bad bouts of depression after a serious 2001 car accident. His family says he saw the movie Big Fish the night before he died and it affected him a great deal. Also, he had been seen once before a few weeks earlier on the Staten Island Ferry and police were suspicious he was going to jump. He also tried to kill himself in 2002 and his mother committed suicide herself in 1967. He was a wonderful actor. Pax -C