After his divorce, Giancarlo Esposito declared bankruptcy and considered arranging his own death to provide insurance money for his children. Shortly after, he was cast as Gus Fring on ‘Breaking Bad,’ a role that transformed his life. Read more

During a time of great hardship, Giancarlo Esposito once considered organizing his death in order to collect insurance money for his children.

During an appearance on Sirius XM’s Jim & Sam, the Breaking Bad alum, 65, revealed that he was near bankruptcy before getting his break as Gus Fring on the AMC drama.

In 2008, his money woes reached such a low point, he considered arranging his own murder so his family could redeem a financial security net with his life insurance payout.

“My way out in my brain was: ‘Hey, do you get life insurance if someone commits suicide? Do they get the bread?’” he recalled. “My wife had no idea why I was asking this stuff. I started scheming. If I got somebody to knock me off, death by misadventure, [my kids] would get the insurance. I had four kids. I wanted them to have a life. It was a hard moment in time.”

literally thought of self-annihilation so they could survive. That’s how low I was,” he added, before recalling how he realized his death would affect his family.

“That was the first inkling that there was a way out, but I wouldn’t be here to be available to my kids,” Esposito continued. “Then I started to think that’s not viable because the pain I would cause them would be lifelong, and there’d be lifelong trauma that would just extend the generational trauma I’m trying to move away from. The light at the end of the tunnel was Breaking Bad.