“I feel like silence is going to lead inevitably to more suffering and more pain.

The interview came a day after a statement posted to Seiter’s Instagram said he had died unexpectedly.

For the last 24 hours I had been trying desperately to get into it.

Josh Seiter

Josh Seiter.Credit: Josh Seiter/Instagram

Instagram’s parent company, Meta, didn’t immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

As a mental health advocate, issues of suicide are very sensitive for me.

To suggest that I would orchestrate a death post around that issue is sickening.

Regardless of what my detractors have to say.”

Seiter told PEOPLE that, moving forward, “I just want to keep working on myself.”

He added, “I want to keep living.

I want to keep searching for peace and happiness.