Depression Chubbuck spoke to her family at length about her struggles with
depression and
suicidal tendencies, though she did not inform them of her intent to die by suicide on live television. She had attempted to overdose on drugs in 1970 and frequently made reference to that event. Chubbuck had been seeing a psychiatrist up until several weeks before her death. Her mother chose not to tell WXLT management about her daughter's suicidal tendencies because she feared Chubbuck would be fired. Chubbuck's focus on her lack of intimate relationships is generally considered to be the driving force for her depression. Her mother later summarized that "her suicide was simply because her personal life was not enough." She lamented to co-workers that her 30th birthday was approaching, and she was still a virgin who had never been on more than two dates with a man. Her brother Greg later recalled a man that she had gone out with several times before moving to Sarasota, but agreed that his sister had trouble connecting socially in the beach resort town. He believed her constant
self-deprecation for being "dateless" contributed to her ongoing depression. According to Quinn, Chubbuck had an unrequited crush on co-worker George Peter Ryan. She baked him a cake for his birthday and sought his romantic attention, only to find out he was already involved with sports reporter Andrea Kirby. Kirby had been the co-worker closest to Chubbuck, but she was offered a new job in
Baltimore, which had further depressed Chubbuck. Chubbuck had her right
ovary removed in an operation the year before her suicide, and had been told that if she did not become pregnant within two to three years, it was unlikely she would ever be able to
conceive.
Suicide On the morning of July 15, 1974, Chubbuck confused co-workers by claiming she had to read a newscast to open
Suncoast Digest, something she had never done before. That morning's guest waited across the studio while Chubbuck sat at the news anchor's desk. The film reel of the restaurant shooting had jammed and would not run, so Chubbuck shrugged it off and said on-camera, "In keeping with the WXLT practice of presenting the most immediate and complete reports of local blood-and-guts news, TV-40 presents what is believed to be a television first. In living color, an exclusive coverage of an attempted suicide." She drew a
revolver and shot herself behind her right ear. The station quickly ran a standard
public service announcement and then a movie. Some television viewers called the police, while others called the station to inquire if the shooting was staged. After the shooting, news director Mike Simmons found the papers from which Chubbuck had been reading her newscast contained a complete script of her program, including not only the shooting but also a third-person account to be read by whichever staff member took over the broadcast after the incident. He said her script called for her condition to be listed as "critical". Chubbuck was taken to
Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead fourteen hours later. Upon receiving the news, a WXLT staffer released the information to other stations using Chubbuck's script. Three songs by her favorite singer,
Roberta Flack, were played.
Presbyterian minister Thomas Beason delivered the eulogy, stating, "We suffer at our sense of loss. We are shocked at the suddenness of her absence. We are frightened by her rage. In her manner of death, we take note of her loneliness and our own as well." The broadcast of Chubbuck's death has not been seen since its airing, and numerous theories on what happened to the recording have been advanced. One was that the station owner Robert Nelson kept it, and it was in the possession of his widow, Mollie. It was confirmed in June 2016 that the recording of Chubbuck's death exists and had indeed been in Nelson's possession, but was handed over to a "very large law firm" for safekeeping by Mollie. She has no plans to make it publicly available. In 2007, Greg Chubbuck spoke publicly about his sister for the first time since 1974 in an
E! television special. In 2008, the suicide hoax blog
90 Day Jane cited Chubbuck's death as inspiration. ==In popular culture==