47-year-old actress, Rebecca Gayheart, recently opened up in an interview about what it was like to be involved in a car accident that killed a nine-year-old boy and how it has affected her life since.
47-year-old actress, Rebecca Gayheart, recently opened up in an interview about what it was like to be involved in a car accident that killed a nine-year-old boy and how it has affected her life since.
She's best known for her roles in Beverly Hills 90210, Urban Legend, Nothing To Lose, Jawbreaker and Scream 2.
Since then, naturally, she's pumped the breaks on her career — taking on more infrequent and smaller roles.
And it's taken her nearly 20 years to finally feel able to open up about it publicly.
She shared that she still experiences PTSD from the accident, and has spent a large part of her life since then wanting to kill herself.
Instead of hitting the breaks as well, she decided to go around the car.
"If a car in front of you hits their brakes and they stop, you don't go around them to avoid hitting them," she said.
"I couldn't see that reason, but that is something that everyone should know."
Rebecca was sentenced to probation, a one-year suspension of her license, a $2,800 fine and 750 hours of community service after pleading no contest to vehicular manslaughter.
She was required to pay for his funeral and his medical expenses.
"I just didn't want to live after that accident. ... I couldn't handle it at all, so I spent about a year just trying to kill myself."
“Right now, my kids are everything, my kids keep me in line," she told People Magazine in another interview.
"I still have those questions, but today I am able to ponder those questions and still realize that I deserve to be happy".
"I'm making living amends for that, even though it was an accident."
“People have been kind to me, which is nice," she said.
Thankfully, Rebecca has been able to make peace with her mistakes and focus on moving on.