Patrick Clancy Admits Suicidal Ideation After Children’s Deaths

Patrick Clancy has revealed that he experienced suicidal thoughts after the deaths of his three children.

“There was a time where I—I didn’t think I would live to see my 35th birthday,” Patrick, now 36, told 60 Minutes in an interview that aired Sept. 20. “And I was completely fine with it.”

During the emotional interview, Patrick described the devastating impact of the 2023 deaths of his children—Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. He also spoke about the early signs of his then-wife Lindsay Clancy’s mental-health struggles, the ways he keeps his children’s memory alive and his decision to move to New York with his wife, Rachel Danis, to begin again.

Patrick Clancy Describes Holding Son Callan As He Died

Patrick recalled returning from errands on Jan. 24, 2023, and finding Lindsay bleeding and partially paralyzed on the lawn. She had cut her neck and wrists before jumping from a second-story window in an apparent suicide attempt.

“I just saw blood everywhere,” he later testified, according to ABC 13. “And the window was open.”

Inside the home, he discovered that Cora and Dawson had been strangled.

First responders found a heartbeat for Callan and rushed the infant to a hospital.

“I really thought there was a chance that Callan would live,” Patrick said on 60 Minutes. “I remember just thinking, ‘Just gimme one. Just gimme one kid, and I would raise him as best I could, and I would give him the best life I possibly could. I’d tell him about his brother and sister.’ And I was holding out hope for that.”

At the hospital, however, Patrick said he recognized from the doctor’s expression that Callan’s prognosis was not good.

Callan survived for four days before ultimately dying from his injuries.

“I’m so grateful for those four days that I had with him,” Patrick said. “And I’m so grateful he hung on.”

Asked what he said to his son, Patrick replied: “I said, ‘I’m so sorry.’ And I got to—I got to hold him. I got to lay down next to him. And he died in my arms.”

Patrick, who has publicly said he forgives Lindsay, also asked her whether she remembered killing the children.

“She said it was like a dream,” he recalled. “She remembered it much in the way you would remember a dream after waking up.”

Patrick Clancy Described Having Suicidal Ideation in Months After His Children’s Deaths

As Lindsay faced murder charges, Patrick returned to their once-familiar but now painfully empty life in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

“Everything just came to a screeching halt,” he told 60 Minutes. “Really without thinking, I drove by their school. And it was at the exact time that all of their friends were getting dropped off. And I just—I couldn’t be there anymore.”

Patrick acknowledged that he considered ending his life. Instead, he moved to New York City, where he could mourn away from the public attention surrounding the tragedy.

In May 2023, he marked Callan’s first birthday by lighting a candle at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“I say, ‘I love you, buddy.’ And I walk out on Fifth Avenue and start crying my eyes out,” he remembered. “And nobody cared.”

Patrick honored the memory of his three children with a specially designed playground in Duxbury, Mass. and has incorporated their favorite toys and mementos of their life into his Manhattan apartment. 

He admitted to still dreaming of the children he shared with Lindsay and told 60 Minutes they will never be far from his mind.