On Saturday (November 4th), People published an exclusive excerpt from Courtney B. Vance‘s new book titled The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power. In the book, the Dangerous Minds actor writes about the moment he found out that his father committed suicide.
Vance, who was 30 at the time, details the phone call he received from his mother telling him that his father “shot himself,” and she found him “in the TV room.”
Reflecting on this trauma, the Preacher’s Wife actor writes, “There’s no map for where your thoughts go in a moment like that, when you learn someone you can’t imagine life without is now gone, not because he was snatched away by sickness or old age, but because he’d chosen to leave us, by his own hand.”
Vance told People he worked on this book with mental health advocate Dr. Robin L. Smith and Charisse Jones to create a “guide for Black men navigating life’s ups and downs, reclaiming mental well-being, and examining broken pieces to find whole, full-hearted living.”
His wife, Angela Bassett, shared a video of him holding a blue umbrella and walking around in the rain to Instagram on Saturday (November 4th). “So proud of @courtneybvance and his new book with @drrobinlsmith THE INVISIBLE ACHE: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power, out on 11/7. Sending them all the best as they embark upon this journey next week!” she wrote in the caption.
