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Alabama AG, Steve Marshall, pays tribute to his wife who shot herself dead Sunday – Blames spotlight of his public office for worsening her opioid addiction and depression

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall Wednesday during a church speech paid tribute to his wife who committed suicide and blames spotlight of his public office for worsening her opioid addiction and depression<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Bridgette Marshall&comma; 45&comma;<&sol;strong> shot herself dead<strong> at<&sol;strong><strong> her apt  in Murfreesboro&comma; Tennessee&comma; on Sunday<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Bridgette&&num;8217&semi;s husband detailed her struggles with drug addiction and mental illness&comma; which was exacerbated by being in the public eye&comma; her husband &comma; 53-year-old Steve Marshall said Wednesday<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Marshall said Bridgette&&num;8217&semi;s mental health issue sand opioid addiction stemmed from migraines since childhood<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>She had been living away from her family to avoid the stress of the public eye<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><strong><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;">Moments before her death she told husband&comma; she was tired and felt like a burden <&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;">The couple married for more than 20 years shared a young adult daughter<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"splitLeft">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mol-img">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"image-wrap fff-pic">&NewLine;<div class&equals;"clear">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"mobile-gallery-icon"><strong> <img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-295340" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;Steve-Marshall-and-his-daughter-4&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Steve Marshall and his daughter 4" width&equals;"668" height&equals;"394" &sol;>Alabama Attorney-General Steve Marshal wondered if his wife of two decades would still be alive if he had turned down his appointment in February 2017&period; His couple&&num;8217&semi;s daughter Faith stood &lbrack;right&rsqb;&comma; weeping beside her dad&period; He was speaking Wednesday&comma; June 27&comma; 2018&comma; about the circumstances surrounding his wife Bridgette&&num;8217&semi;s death<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div>A very emotional Alabama Attorney-General Steve Marshall broke down in tears as he revealed his wife suffered from drug addiction and mental illness before her suicide on Sunday&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Bridgette Marshall&comma; 45&comma; was found in her apartment in Murfreesboro&comma; Tennessee&comma; with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head and police listed her death as suicide&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Marshall sobbed throughout a 21-minute press conference at his church on Wednesday&comma; surrounded by his 20-year-old daughter Faith and other family&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In his statement the bereaved lawman wondered if his wife of more than 20 years would still be alive if he had turned down his appointment in February 2017&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"imageCaption"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-295337" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;Bridget-left-and-Steve-Marshall-with-their-daughter-Faith-right-5-1&period;png" alt&equals;"Bridget &lbrack;left&rsqb;&comma; and Steve Marshall with their daughter&comma; Faith &lbrack;right&rsqb; 5" width&equals;"633" height&equals;"616" &sol;><strong>Alabama Attorney-General Steve Marshall sobbed throughout a 21-minute press conference at his church on Wednesday as he spoke about his wife&&num;8217&semi;s suicide<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">A distraught Marshall joined by his daughter&comma; Faith who wept through his speech&comma; at the media briefing&period;as he wondered if his wife would still be alive if he had turned down his appointment in February 2017&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;It&&num;8217&semi;s tough&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s tough&comma;&&num;8217&semi; he began before detailing his wife&&num;8217&semi;s health issues dating back to her childhood when she suffered intense migraines&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;She&&num;8217&semi;d come home and spend days in dark rooms trying to get over the pain&comma; but it didn&&num;8217&semi;t get away&period; Nothing helped&comma;&&num;8217&semi; he said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Marshall said he felt compelled to publicly address the circumstances surrounding his wife&&num;8217&semi;s death following a report Tuesday night that Bridgette Marshall had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bridgette had sought quiet refuge in the Nashville suburb as a consequence of her mental illness&comma; Marshall said<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;It is not our desire to be here today&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Marshall said&period; &&num;8220&semi;We were forced to be here today&period; I know I&&num;8217&semi;m speaking to you in some ways as the attorney general of Alabama&period; But I&&num;8217&semi;m a dad&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m a husband&period; And I watched my daughter read a reckless article last night that disclosed the circumstances of how Bridgette died and where&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;And I watched my daughter in tears because Bridgette is not a public figure&period; I am&period; She didn&&num;8217&semi;t want the limelight&period; She didn&&num;8217&semi;t want to be in front&period; She always was behind&period; And for Faith to suffer through that last night&comma; as a father&comma; angered me&period; And it angered our family&period; So when we should have been sharing stories of Bridgette&&num;8217&semi;s life last night as a family&comma; we were talking about how to respond&period; Because that story was only filled with half-truths&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s not the full story of how it is we stand here so sadly today and what it gave rise to was rumor&comma; for gossip and for people to say things that were reckless&period; And we weren&&num;8217&semi;t going to stand for that&period; As a dad&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m not going to let my daughter go through that&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"imageCaption"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-295331" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;Bridget-Marshall-left-Faith-Marshall-center-and-Steve-Marshall-9&period;png" alt&equals;"Bridget Marshall &lbrack;left&rsqb;&comma; Faith Marshall &lbrack;center&rsqb;&comma; and Steve Marshall 9" width&equals;"638" height&equals;"956" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Steve Marshall revealed that his wife Bridgette &lbrack;left&rsqb;&comma; seen with daughter Faith &lbrack;center&rsqb;&comma; suffered from drug addiction and mental illness before her suicide on Sunday<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">The migraines led to an addition to the hydrocodone and fentanyl used to treat them&comma; and she &&num;8216&semi;didn&&num;8217&semi;t completely embrace recovery&&num;8217&semi; after a stint in rehab&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;AG Marshall&comma; 53&comma; said his wife of 20 years also showed early signs of mental illness and during their marriage was diagnosed with a &&num;8216&semi;depressive disorder&&num;8217&semi; and anxiety&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Her family once had her committed for treatment when she refused to go&comma; and on later occasions convinced her to seek further inpatient help&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Bridgette Marshall also had another unspecified health issue that meant she had to be fed through a feeding tube for months up to the time of her death&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"imageCaption"><strong><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-295335" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;Steve-and-Bridget-Marshall-5&period;png" alt&equals;"Steve and Bridget Marshall 5" width&equals;"635" height&equals;"756" &sol;>Bridgette Marshall &lbrack;right&rsqb;&comma; wife of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall &lbrack;left&rsqb;&comma; was found in her apt in Murfreesboro&comma; Tennessee&comma; with a self-inflicted gunshot found to the head&period; Her death was ruled a suicide<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">Marshall espoused his belief that being in the public after her his appointment made Bridgette more anxious to the point she felt like everyone was watching her&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;It&&num;8217&semi;s not a sign of weakness&comma; let&&num;8217&semi;s make that clear&period; Nobody wants to be mentally ill&comma;&&num;8217&semi; Mr Marshall said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Eventually she felt she couldn&&num;8217&semi;t be in the state any longer and rented an apartment in a complex her family didn&&num;8217&semi;t even know the location of until May&comma; but spoke on the phone with Mr Marshall every day&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&lbrack;She left&rsqb; not because she didn&&num;8217&semi;t love her family and love her husband&comma; but because of the way she perceived her life&comma; that was her only option&comma;&&num;8217&semi; her husband said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Ms Marshall came to Alabama to be with her family at the primary election on June 5 and her birthday the next day and seemed filled with &&num;8216&semi;joy&&num;8217&semi;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;She was as happy as I had seen her in a long time&comma;&&num;8217&semi; he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"imageCaption"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-295334" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;Steve-and-Bridget-Marshall-6&period;png" alt&equals;"Steve and Bridget Marshall 6" width&equals;"671" height&equals;"748" &sol;><strong>Happy times&colon; Newly minted AG&comma; Steve Marshall&comma; kisses his seemingly happy wife&comma; Bridgette&comma; on the cheek after he was swearing ceremony in Feb in 2017<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"imageCaption">Steve Marshall wondered if his wife of more than 20 years would still be alive if he had turned down his appointment in February 2017&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">However&comma; soon after &&num;8216&semi;something changed&comma; we don&&num;8217&semi;t know what&&num;8217&semi; and she began to complain about her stomach and talk about suicide&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The day before she died&comma; unexplained blisters showed up on her feet and none of her family could work out what was wrong&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;Her parents talked to her and I talked to her and we convinced her to go to the hospital the next day&period; And she said she would go&comma;&&num;8217&semi; Mr Marshall said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr Marshall planned to pick his wife up on Sunday morning and drive her to the hospital&comma; but then she told her parents &&num;8216&semi;I won&&num;8217&semi;t be alive when you get here&&num;8217&semi;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;I got on the phone with her and I was talking to a person who didn&&num;8217&semi;t have any hope&comma;&&num;8217&semi; He recalled&period;Marshall detailed Bridgette&&num;8217&semi;s  health issues dating back to her childhood when she suffered from intense migraines&period;<img class&equals;" wp-image-295332 alignleft" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;Faith-Marshall-left-Bridget-Marshall-center-and-Steve-Marshall-right&period;png" alt&equals;"Faith Marshall &lbrack;left&rsqb;&comma; Bridget Marshall &lbrack;center&rsqb;&comma; and Steve Marshall &lbrack;right&rsqb;" width&equals;"665" height&equals;"641" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"imageCaption"><strong>AG Marshall revealed that his wife Bridgette &lbrack;center&rsqb;&comma;  also showed early signs of mental illness and during their marriage was diagnosed with a &&num;8216&semi;depressive disorder&&num;8217&semi; and anxiety<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"imageCaption">The widower said his wife also showed early signs of mental illness and during their marriage was diagnosed with a &&num;8216&semi;depressive disorder&&num;8217&semi; and anxiety<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">She told him&colon; &&num;8216&semi;I don&&num;8217&semi;t have any purpose and I&&num;8217&semi;m tired&period; My body&&num;8217&semi;s failing me and I don&&num;8217&semi;t know why&period; I&&num;8217&semi;ve had pain for a long time and I don&&num;8217&semi;t want to endure it anymore and I&&num;8217&semi;m just a burden&period;&&num;8217&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The husband  said he tried to convince her she wasn&&num;8217&semi;t a burden and was loved by her family&comma; but it didn&&num;8217&semi;t seem to work&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;As a guy who&comma; professionally&comma; is supposed to be able to convince people with words to do something&comma; I couldn&&num;8217&semi;t reach her&comma;&&num;8217&semi; he said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;She said &&num;8220&semi;I&&num;8217&semi;m tired of being tired&period; And I just want to go&&num;8221&semi;&period; And she said &&num;8220&semi;do you want to hear it&quest;&&num;8221&semi; And I said &&num;8220&semi;no&comma; I don&&num;8217&semi;t&&num;8221&semi;&period; And she hung up the phone&period;&&num;8217&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Marshall said  he had planned to pick his wife up on Sunday morning and drive her to the hospital&comma; but then she told her parents &&num;8216&semi;I won&&num;8217&semi;t be alive when you get here&&num;8217&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Subsequently&comma; Steve and other relatives called police and officers found her lying dead on the couch inside the apartment sometime after 7&period;46am&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;I continued to call her phone and she didn&&num;8217&semi;t answer&period; And then we learned she had died from a gunshot wound in that apartment&period; And our lives changed&period; They changed forever&comma;&&num;8217&semi; Steve Marshall said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"artSplitter mol-img-group">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"imageCaption"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-295339" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;Steve-Marshall-3&period;png" alt&equals;"Steve Marshall 3" width&equals;"710" height&equals;"423" &sol;><strong>Marshall &lbrack;L-R&rsqb;&comma; seen at Wednesday&&num;8217&semi;s media briefing&comma;  said he had planned to pick his wife up on Sunday morning and drive her to the hospital&comma; but then she told her parents &&num;8216&semi;I won&&num;8217&semi;t be alive when you get here&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"mol-para-with-font">&&num;8216&semi;For me&comma; I wonder whether or not if I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t attorney general&comma; would she still be alive&quest;&&num;8217&semi; he said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;Whether I hadn&&num;8217&semi;t chosen public service&comma; would she still be here today&quest; And I&&num;8217&semi;ll be haunted by that for the rest of my life&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;I hope some day to be able to forget that conversation we had that Sunday morning and remember what she did for others&period;&&num;8217&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr Marshall ended the press conference by reading a note Ms Marshall left for him after the election&comma; where he gained the most votes for re-election&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;Steve&comma; I knew you would pull this off&period; It was a great birthday gift I knew was coming&period; You are the man for the job in Alabama&comma;&&num;8217&semi; the note read&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8216&semi;I love you more than you will ever know and couldn&&num;8217&semi;t be more proud how you handled it all as you always do with grace&period; I love you&period; Love&comma; Bridgette&period;&&num;8217&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr Marshall added&colon; &&num;8216&semi;That is the woman I will celebrate this week&period; That is the life I will share with others&period; And that is the life I will remember&period;&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

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