r/breakingbad • u/Boring_Elevator3817 • 9h ago

RJ Mitte (Walt Jr) has passed 😥

Wow, I was shocked to hear this. They are saying it was suicide. So sad. He was only 34 years old. RIP, Flynn ❤️

19.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

995

u/B-BoyStance 8h ago

That's fucking terrible.

Maybe it's too soon to say this but I've heard him talk about a lot of horror stories in terms of trying to be an actor (his manager defrauded him for years for example, tons of money just lost).

I feel like this stuff is going to come up a lot in the upcoming days/weeks - even if it isn't the main factor, hearing him talk about that over the years always made me sad/worry about him.

Even though he's pretty famous I can't imagine the guy had a drastically different life than anyone lower/middle class.

343

u/Big-Horse3925 8h ago

Living with a lifelong disease, even one that's "totally manageable and you can totally live a perfectly normal life!", isn't a struggle most people understand either, let alone one that significantly, visibly impacts your life, too. I wouldn't doubt that could play a significant part in it.

85

u/BarderBetterFaster 7h ago

I imagine it's similar to chronic pain. You can't understand how much that takes from you until you've lived it. Waking up and having to fight through every day just to maintain normalcy takes a heavy toll.

•

u/ZENKFNOR 1h ago

not-at-all-fun-fact: CP often causes chronic pain!

71

u/lilphoenixgirl95 8h ago

Yeah. It's never anywhere near as manageable as people tell you/think/expect from you.

100

u/NearlyImpressive 8h ago

As a person with mild cerebral palsy (more mild than RJ's) its a continuous struggle even if its not a visible one. His representation was awesome. Really sad to hear his passing.

13

u/lilphoenixgirl95 7h ago

Nice to hear from you and your perspective as someone affected by his condition. I have severe classical Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome so I know the struggle well, especially as most people don't even know what it is/how serious it is. It's not visible because I've learnt to push through extreme pain, but lately that's backfired and the severe spasms in my legs/hips/back and failure of my ankle ligaments is making it obvious to people when I try to stand or walk, and I'm only 30.

4

u/NearlyImpressive 6h ago

I'm only mildly educated in your condition but we do seem to share similar struggles with pain. I am sorry you are going through this. I too have a long list of other physical conditions that make my silent struggle worse. To name a few: like arthritis in the spine, mild scoliosi, heart, lung disease probablyforgetting a few) that I just keep collecting as I get older (I am also 30)

No one would suspect a thing if they noticed me in the wild. Most people just notice how tired I am.

•

u/Optiguy42 4h ago

I have a friend with EDS and while it sounds like it's not as severe as yours, I've seen firsthand how much it fucking sucks. Going out for the day using a cane but needing to plan ahead to see if there are wheelchair options in case the walking is too much. Consistent pain that no one can actually see. And just a general lack of public knowledge about the condition. It's very frustrating and disheartening. He "pushes through it" like you and I just worry it's too much sometimes.

I hope you're doing well and I hope that more folks become aware of the condition and its impact.

•

u/Big-Horse3925 4h ago

I have a congenital disease that affects my diet to an extreme extent, and people never realize how much it screwed up my childhood to not be able to share something they take for granted in regards to socializing with other kids their age during their childhood (I was ostracized during school lunch, birthdays, etc, constantly because of my diet and having to drink a "formula" like a baby into adulthood...). It's given me lifelong issues I will always struggle with, even if I'm cured some day. Now imagine a disease that prevents you from doing like 95% of things other kids do, and all the constant struggles, and other issues it brings.

I'm sorry you've also had to struggle, and I hope we can find more cures for genetic/congenital diseases some day. Maybe in the next 20-30 years we'll see some cure where you can just give a fetus an injection and completely fix any serious issues from early on in development. Hopefully.

8

u/Abigboi_ 7h ago

Most people dont get chronic illness until they do.

1

u/GiantPandammonia 7h ago

He actually had cerebral palsy? I thought he was acting and I was always super impressed by his portrayal.  Must suck having a disability and playing a character with the same disability whose role in a show is making the main character's life suck more by being their disabled kid.  

10

u/geek_of_nature 7h ago

He did. He didn't need to use crutches like his character did, but that was his actual voice he was using in the show.

•

u/ionlyjoined4thecats 2h ago

He played up the speech impediment a bit iirc.

270

u/MayContainRawNuts 8h ago

The guy was adopted, his adopted parents divorced and he lived with his adopted mom and her natural daughter, who was much younger than him

When Mitty was 13 his mom got paralyzed, leaving him the breadwinner for his mom, sister and himself.

The child acting paid the bills. Then he landed Breaking Bad and life changing money.

.... which his manager stole....

121

u/Kelby091 7h ago

This is so heartbreaking. If there is an afterlife, I hope he's rewarded for what he's had to endure.

Check up on your loved ones, everyone.

68

u/aweiner99 7h ago

And I hope his manager goes to hell for what he did to him

42

u/strings_bells 6h ago

She.. she apparently also targeted several other actors in similar situations.. blood boiling shit.. he was so sharp and very unique presence in the show that brought it a level of authenticity..

•

u/midsumernighttts 4h ago

what an evil person. watch her not feel any guilt at all.

•

u/CathieWoods1985 5h ago

Yup, although from what I heard it wasn't even life changing money in the first place, because when he was signed he barely had any acting experience and was also the youngest on set.

This was also before Breaking Bad went viral so in the beginning they barely had any budget

•

u/Tiny-Elephant4148 3h ago

Thank you for mentioning his adoptee status, I didn’t know this. Adoptees are 2-4x as likely to attempt suicide or die by suicide than non adopted people. It’s a really sad but little known statistic

21

u/dewhashish Franch: Not even once 7h ago

fuck that manager. i hope they rot

•

u/Dangerous_Day_7958 3h ago

Ugh, I hate to say this but many people inside the breaking bad production made generational wealth from the show, including Cranston & obviously Gilligan. RJ was an adult by the end & getting scammed is his own problem, but geez, no one related to that show could have gone the extra mile for a kid with cp who obviously was taken advantage of by Hollywood parasites?! I really hope I’m mistaken on this but if part of his suicide was due to the stress caused by financial burden & no one from that group reached out to help that makes me sick

3

u/snoho2 6h ago

I had no idea, that is awful 😞. Poor guy.

3

u/tanz420 ahh...wire! 6h ago

Oh my god it's unimaginable 😢

•

u/rofocales 3h ago

Thank you for telling his love story for us, I would've never known

26

u/bacon_farts_420 7h ago

So I used to act no where near his level, or the success of breaking bad. Even my little straight to dvd movies fucked me up. Being at the height of your life at that point full of hope and thinking it’s only going to go up from there, just to slowly see your dream die. People ask “Why don’t you still act?” Because I can’t even have the heart to even try anymore

•

u/Pussy4LunchDick4Dins 5h ago

My mom tried acting. She also was a singer and a ballet dancer. It absolutely broke her. People were so cruel and spoke about her as if she was an object. She was devastated because her dream was dead and her confidence was shattered. She recently sang publicly for the first time since she was in her twenties, at age 60. It took that long for her to heal from that.

6

u/iminlovewithbadthing 6h ago

hey i just wanted to say i am sorry.

not acting in my case but i once was on track to be something i dreamed of, and now i am nothing. i hide to not have people ask anymore

sorry i dont have anything positive to say, just i guess, i did not want to leave your comment without a reply

•

u/releasingit 47m ago

You’re not nothing! You’re everything.

You’re just not what you once planned. Which is so fine! So few of us are. 💛

•

u/GaptistePlayer 3h ago

I just saw an interview with Adam Scott, who went to acting/performance art school and is now the lead on Severance. He said before he started getting roles in B-movies in comedic parts there were several times during his career doing tiny parts that he came close to quitting and it was a very common conversation among his friends who are also successful at varying levels now. It’s a very tough career and industry and I admire anyone who has tried to make a go of it.

•

u/BetaMyrcene 5h ago

I was a child actor in community theater. Even though I only had one starring role, I feel the exact same way. Like my life could only go down from there.

85

u/CombustibleCompost 8h ago

Imagine? Being a core member of the cast for the most famous and best television show in recent history, and you still have to work. Scummy people out there man, he should have been set

•

u/Kind_Kaleidoscope179 2h ago

tf does that even mean man

31

u/JJBro1 8h ago

I met him and his mom back when I used to live in LA. From what I remember his mom was his manager. Hopefully it's not his mom who defrauded him and it was someone else.

59

u/laveshnk 7h ago

No it wasn’t his mom. His mom actually had an accident that left her paralyzed when he was a kid. He actually was the main breadwinner and financially supported his family since he was 13!!!

And then the manager fucked him over and stole his breaking bad money, but yet he still had to pay the IRS himself. Took him 10 years to repay the debt apparently

12

u/ChristIsKing316146 6h ago

Why can’t we get justice ?

6

u/Sleeping_Bat 6h ago

How does a manager get someone millions into debt? It could only have been a bad investment decision, which sucks but isn't super uncommon with actors who put all their eggs in one basket

8

u/laveshnk 6h ago

he didnt lose money in investing. His manager literally stole it

7

u/Sleeping_Bat 6h ago

then why isn't his manager literally in jail? Because redirecting tax payments is literally a crime and tax-related fraud is one case the government is literally obsessed with prosecuting.

11

u/laveshnk 6h ago

https://youtu.be/5zHqkupx_w0?si=8KigFWUHyWaE3gIZ

He goes into it in depth here. They tried pretty hard to prosecute him, but cases like these take years and is very expensive.

the manager had done this to lots of people too apparently, disabled and elderly were their main targets.

And guess what RJ was still on the hook for taxes to the IRS, and it took him 10+ years to pay off the back pay apparently. It also looked like he didnt make the best financial decisions even after the whole scam, seemingly losing money in penny stocks, NFTS and crypto stuff.

Very very unfortunate

•

u/CathieWoods1985 5h ago

The IRS comes after you, the taxpayer, not your accountant or manager.

You can bring your accountant / manager to court for fraud, but that's between you and them. You still need to pay the IRS what they're owed

8

u/Brodakk 8h ago

Multiple versions of this flying around.

Other comment says it was his tax accountant, not his manager.

14

u/clckwrks 8h ago

name and shame the manager

3

u/Caftancatfan 6h ago

I don’t think her name is public knowledge at this point.

•

u/thatsnewstome_ 5m ago

It should be

-4

u/lsdrunning 7h ago

Your comment will be removed from doing this. The manager is/was very legally smart. People don’t understand name and shame doesn’t really work on reddit anymore

8

u/clckwrks 7h ago

right but this is a celebrity not exactly private business

4

u/Unique_Skin_4235 7h ago

It does with a fanbase as large as breaking bad's. It turns bad when the info makes its way into YT and the news.

1

u/clckwrks 7h ago

Not really the man scammed him when he was just a kid, targeted him, left him penniless, so this is not exactly a goddamn secret is it? Its the same as Scooter Braun or some other weirdo manager taking advantage.

5

u/ChornobylChili 7h ago

He criminally stole from a disabled person. Lets frame it how Saul would. Saul Goodman wouldnt even defend that manager

•

u/Unique_Skin_4235 5h ago

*She* also scammed 14 other disabled actors according to him. It being a "secret" amongst small actors is because this thief works in a police office and they are scared of her. Scooter Braun did it in the early 2010's and used news outlets to shill for him and remove any negative press.

2

u/Johnsendall 8h ago

There was a podcast he was interviewed on and he said he was barely paid.

2

u/Neon_Biscuit 8h ago

That money guy who didnt pay his taxes is still working today too. Sucks.

0

u/CasioCobra78 7h ago

Not sure who are you talking about.

1

u/Neon_Biscuit 7h ago

The guy hired to manage his money. He's been vocal about it in interviews

2

u/RustledForeskin 7h ago

Probably end up with a pile of debt thinking you got loads of money coming in from a popular show just to find out your manager has been stealing.

1

u/tanz420 ahh...wire! 6h ago

Omg it just gets sadder, I read that his mother got paralyzed in an accident and he tried helping out not to mention his divorced parents and being adopted, he went through so much I can't imagine 😢😢😢