"Shark Tank" star Robert Herjavec opened up about his struggle with depression following the breakup of his marriage in an interview published Wednesday.
The multimillionaire revealed that he considered suicide after he and his wife separated, and turned to his pastor for help.
Herjavec said that it all became too much to bear in July when he stood on the balcony of a Toronto hotel room.
"I just wanted to end it," he told PEOPLE. "Everyone has their kryptonite," he continued. "For me, it was my kids. It took me to a place I never thought I would go."
Herjavec reported that his two daughters and son stopped speaking to him following the separation to his wife of 24 years, Diane Plese.
"It's been a terribly difficult year," he admitted. "We were great parents and a great team, but over time we drifted apart."
Although he has a successful career as a tech entrepreneur and TV personality on the hit Canadian show "Dragon's Den," and award-winning American show "Shark Tank," the 51-year-old considered ending his life.
Instead, he called Pastor John McAuley, who directed him to Seattle's Union Gospel Mission. The organisation provides food, shelter, and other services to those in need, and Herjavec began working in their soup kitchen.
"Nobody knew who I was," he recounted. "People thought I was a recovering addict." After seeing "suffering and hopelessness" in other people, he no longer felt suicidal, and wanted to give back in other ways.
The investor embarked on "search and rescue missions," providing food, clothing, and other necessities to "this whole world of people living beneath underpasses and under trees, who aren't well enough to make it into the shelter."
On one occasion, he went to a local Walmart and bought all of their socks. "I think I've donated around 100,000 pairs," said Herjavec.
He came out of his two-and-a-half week Seattle experience a changed man.
"I was hollow and broken," he intimated. "And these people saved my life."
Herjavec, who currently appears on the reality competition "Dancing with the Stars," still volunteers at Union Gospel Mission, and supports the organisation financially.
