Rick and Kay Warren are well known as Christians through Saddleback Church and The Purpose Drive Life.
Their youngest son, Matthew, took his own life at the age of 27 in the context of ongoing mental illness.
Piers Morgan conducted the first substantial interview with the Warrens about their loss.
In the interview they speak about their son, their family, and their faith.
Here’s the link to a transcript at CNN.
Thanks to Denny Burk for providing the link.
There are excerpts of the video available.
An excerpt:
PIERS MORGAN: …How have you been coping with this?
KAY WARREN: You know, I’ve said almost from the first moment that we learned that, “We’re devastated but we’re not destroyed.” And when people ask that question of how are you, I — there’s no good answer.
RICK WARREN: Yeah.
KAY WARREN: And so, I finally just settled on, “I’m terrible but I’m OK.” In other words, we’re going to survive, we’re going to survive, and someday, we’ll thrive again. It’s — it is, it’s the worst thing that could ever happen.
RICK WARREN: I have cried every single day since Matthew died, but that’s actually a good thing. Grief is a good thing. It’s the way we get to the transitions of life. And I find, if I don’t cry, then you stuff it.
I was saying, when I swallow my emotions, my stomach keeps score. If I don’t talk it out to my wife, to God, to friends. then I’m going to take it out off my body. And so, as guys, men, we don’t do grief very well. It’s not an easy thing for us because we don’t like the negative emotion.
But actually, grief is a good thing. Grief is the way we get to the transitions of life and that’s been helpful to me.
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