Pete Townshend contemplated suicide after child porn arrest

WENN, Saturday, September 29, 2012, 6:01am (PDT)

By newsdesk@wenn.com (WENN Newsdesk)

• The Who rocker Pete Townshend was so distraught when he was branded a pedophile following his 2003 arrest that he contemplated suicide.

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  The star was investigated by police after he used a credit card to access a website that allegedly advertised child pornography.

  Townshend decided not to fight the charges against him and accepted a police caution, although he is adamant he only searched the site as part of research into the horrors of the child porn industry.

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  He has now written about the turbulent time following his arrest in his new book, "Who I Am," revealing he sank so low that he considered taking his own life.

  Townshend writes, "If I had a gun I would have shot myself. It really did feel like a lynching."

  In an interview with Britain's The Times newspaper, he says, "What I did was insane ... [I didn't speak out to defend myself] because there was no sense of 'the truth will [come] out.' I've had the misfortune to read online comments where I'm judged as a pedophile because I've got a big nose."

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  He also reveals he wanted to help victims of child porn because of his own experiences, adding, "It's White Knight Syndrome. You want to be the one that's seen to be helping ... I had experienced something creepy as a child, so you imagine, what if I was a girl of 9 or 10 and my uncle had raped me every week? I felt I had an understanding, and I could help."