MasterChef Star Josh Marks' Mother Says He Was Schizophrenic

Josh Marks' mother says he was diagnosed with schizophrenia recently, and she believes the diagnosis is what drove the MasterChef star to commit suicide on Friday, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Earlier this year, doctors had told Marks that he suffered from bipolar disorder, his mother told the Tribune. "He couldn't bear the thought of another diagnosis," Paulette Mitchell said. "He was just coming to accept the diagnosis of bipolar."

MasterChef's Josh Marks found dead at 26

Marks made it to the finals of MasterChef in 2012, but his mental health spiraled downward after he ultimately lost the competition, according to his family members. He was prescribed medication for anxiety and began hearing voices and suffering from delusions in the months after filming the show, his mother told the Tribune. In July, he was arrested for assault. 

After picking up Marks from a Mercy Hospital and Medical Center treatment programThursday, Mitchell noticed her son was upset and stayed with him at her father's home that night. She spent most of Friday with him until leaving to pick up her daughter from school. A few hours later, she got a call from her brother, who had received reports Marks was walking in an alley with a gun, according to the Tribune.

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Mitchell went looking for her son and found his body in the second alley in which she looked. "I didn't reach my boy in time," she told the Tribune.

Police later determined that Marks died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 26.