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13 Reasons Why Cast Responds to Criticism the Show Glorifies Suicide

They call it "eye-opening"

keishahatchettbiopic.jpg
Keisha Hatchett

The cast of 13 Reasons Whyis opening up about criticism that the show glorifies suicide.

"It's been really eye-opening and interesting to hear where people have differences of opinion," star Katherine Langford told TVGuide.com.

The Netflix series centers on a young woman named Hannah (Langford) who takes her own life. Two weeks after her death, her classmate Clay (Dylan Minnette) finds a box of recordings in which she explains the 13 reasons why she chose to commit suicide. He must listen to each tape in order to figure out how he makes the list, setting off a chain of unexpected events.

In one particularly graphic scene, the series shows exactly how Hannah killed herself by slitting her wrists in the bathtub, triggering debates over whether or not it was necessary or had sensationalized the act.

"The subjects that we're touching on are very, very sensitive and very real and anybody's gonna feel how they want to about what we did," Dylan Minnette said. "But I completely and fully stand behind what we did... The goal was to start a conversation and that's exactly what we've done."

"In showing that scene... showing the horror, hideousness and pain, physically and otherwise, of the act [of suicide]," Kate Walsh added," There was no potential to romanticize it."

Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why heads to Netflix in 2018.