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Pete's interview



My suicide thoughts over porn - Townshend

Zoe Smith
Sunday December 28, 2003
<http://www.observer.co.uk>The Observer

Rock star Pete Townshend reveals today how he contemplated killing himself 
after he confessed to downloading child pornography.

'If I had had a gun, I would have shot myself,' he tells The Observer in an 
exclusive interview. 'And if I had shot myself, it would have been f*****g 
awful because it would have confirmed what everybody thought.'

Townshend was arrested last January after it was disclosed his name was on 
a list of suspects gathered by the FBI as part of an international 
investigation into child pornography on the internet. He subsequently 
confessed he had once used his credit card to access child pornography.

'I know that I caused the most incredible chaos by that one single 
neglectful careless act - for my ex-wife, for my son who's only 13, for his 
school friends, for my girlfriend, all of whom had to make a snap decision 
to wing behind me. And they all did,' he says.

Townshend, who was cautioned by police, insists he is not a paedophile. 
'I'm not sexually attracted to children.' He also reveals that two 
child-related charities to which he had sent money had sent back some 
donations. 'I knew there was a developing witch hunt in progress and I 
thought, "Oh my God, this is going to be hung on me."'

He also says the woman in the US who had found his name on the list of 
paedophile suspects had broken down in tears because she was such a huge 
Who fan.