TORONTO — Canadian entrepreneur and Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec has revealed he contemplated suicide following the separation from his wife of 24 years.
Herjavec told People he stood on the balcony of a Toronto hotel room last July with thoughts of jumping.
“I just wanted to end it,” said the 51-year-old, who founded Toronto-based information security company Herjavec Group.
His children Caprice, Skye and Brendan stopped talking to him after the split. “Everyone has their kryptonite,” Herjavec explained. “For me, it was my kids. It took me to a place I never thought I would go.”
Herjavec sought guidance from his pastor John McAuley, who urged him to travel to Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission.
He spent more than two weeks working in the shelter’s kitchen and going out on late-night missions to assist people living on the streets.
READ MORE: Robert Herjavec talks to ET Canada
Herjavec said he bought around 100,000 pairs of socks from Walmart to distribute to the homeless.
The experience left him humbled.
“I always used to think that if you are compassionate, you are weak,” Herjavec admitted. “You see that on our show.”
Herjavec told People he and Plese, an optometrist, “were great parents and a great team, but over time we drifted apart.”
Their separation left him “hollow and broken.”
Herjavec, who is competing on this season of Dancing With the Stars, said he continues to volunteer at the Union Gospel Mission and provides it with financial support.
“These people saved my life.”
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