Monologuist Spalding Gray, who disappeared January 12 from his New York home, had attempted suicide several times in the last year, and had been taking multiple combinations of antidepressant medication for more than two years, in order to deal with the spiralling emotional fallout which began when the author was involved in a near-fatal car accident in Ireland in 2001. Gray, who had battled hereditary depression and bipolar disorder throughout his career, was also escorted off the Staten Island Ferry a few days before his disappearance by security personnel who were afraid that he was preparing to throw himself off the boat.