Byron “Reckful” Bernstein, a popular video game streamer on Twitch, died, according to social media posts from his ex-girlfriends and brother. He was 31 years old.
According to Blue Madrigal, his ex-girlfriend, and one of the people who initially confirmed his death on social media, Berstein died of suicide.
Bernstein was called Reckful on Twitch, where he was best known for his “World of Warcraft” broadcasts and had more than 936,000 followers. More recently, Bernstein had been working as a developer on his own video game, “Everland,” which would be released later this year.
Bernstein expressed his concern early Thursday morning with a series of tweets, one in which he appears to have proposed to his ex-girlfriend Becca Cho. The post followed a few minutes later with, “Ahh, I feel bad for anyone who has to deal with my madness,” asking his followers to “please know in these situations that the mad person does not feel in control of their actions. ” . “
Madrigal alluded to his death with several posts on Twitter, the first of which says: “I am lost right now. Something I was afraid would happen for so long happened. I can not stop crying “.
Madrigal then continued to tweet, saying, “Someone she loved committed suicide. She wishes she had said something to prevent it. She then shared a video of her with Bernstein and a screenshot of her text messages.
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Cho later published a Twit Longer post, saying that “she didn’t see the proposal until it was too late” and shared that Bernstein helped her understand the complexity of mental health.
“It made me realize that I knew nothing about depression, nothing about mental health problems,” Cho wrote. “I had this vague idea of what it was and embarrassingly thought it could help with trivial bulls.”
Cho went on to ask for “better support for those with mental needs,” citing an earlier instance in which police were called to Bernstein for fear that he would risk suicide.
“THIS CANNOT BE HOW PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT PLACES THAT MUST KEEP THEM SAFE. HOW CAN IT BE WELL? Friends don’t feel it is the right move to ask for help when they know that the mental institutions that send them to treat them like animals are unable to understand, “Cho wrote.
Bernstein’s brother Gary also visited Twitter to confirm his death and wrote: “My little brother Byron left. QEPD He left similarly to my older brother Guy. I have no brothers left. Guy died of suicide when Bernstein was just 6 years old, according to a YouTube video Bernstein posted in January.
Tributes from the gaming community have come for Bernstein. Read some below.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.
