Linkin Park's Chester Bennington faced 'hour-by-hour' addiction battle before suicide aged 41, harrowing new book reveals

Linkin Park star Chester Bennington faced an 'hour-by-hour' battle with addiction in his final months before his suicide aged 41 in 2017, a new book has revealed.

The rock band's frontman was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, south of Los Angeles, on July 20, 2017 - with his death ruled a suicide by hanging - after he was discovered by a housekeeper in his bedroom. 

The last days of the musician are chronicled through the eyes of his family and friends in new book It Starts With One: The Legend and Legacy of Linkin Park - with the star revealing he felt the urge to drink again in his final months.

An excerpt obtained by People reads: 'While publicly discussing his general difficulties with life during the One More Light press run, he was privately telling loved ones about a specific problem: the urge to drink had consumed his thoughts once again. “

'He was describing an hour-by-hour battle with addiction,” said Ryan Shuck, Chester’s close friend who had helped turn one of his bleakest periods during the 2000s into the lone Dead by Sunrise album and who had been texting with him about his alcoholism in the weeks leading up to his death.'

Chester had previously revealed he had relapsed during the making of the band's 2017 album One More Light - which included an 'extended period of drinking' in the second half of 2016. 

Chester's wife Talinda had said Chester 'had been sober for almost six months' prior to his death. 

The book continues: 'When an autopsy and toxicology report later confirmed that Chester had a trace amount of alcohol in his system at the time of his death — he had been discovered with an empty bottle of Stella Artois in the room as well as a glass of Corona that was less than half full — Talinda was not surprised. She had immediately understood that those beer bottles represented are lapse. “I knew instantly that that drink triggered that shame,” she said, “triggered a lifetime of unhealthy neural pathways.” 

Chester spent his final days  with wife Talinda and their three children at their family cabin in Sedona, Arizona.

Talinda married Chester in 2006 and they shared  Tyler, 16, Lily, 11, and ten-year-old Lila. Chester also shared sons Isaiah, 24, and Jamie, 26, with Elka Brand, and had 20-year-old Draven with his ex-wife Samantha, who he married from 1996 until 2005.

After a final photo of him with his kids he then returned to Los Angele by himself citing work - with Talinda previously saying in a 2018 interview:  'He was happy. He gave me a kiss goodbye, he gave the kids a kiss goodbye and I never saw him again.'

His bandmate Mike Shinoda saw Chester for the final time days before his death at a recording studio.

The book - penned by Jason Lipshutz and set for release on October 1 reads: 'Chester had introduced him to the indie rapper and poet Watsky, after hyping up the artist for a while. Watsky and some of his friends left the studio, but Chester and Mike lingered together — spending a few hours talking, kicking around song ideas, game-planning their upcoming shows. It was nothing special or notable; it was just what they had always done.'

In the wake of Chester's death the band issued a heartbreaking statement which read: 'The shockwaves of grief and denial are still sweeping through our family as we come to grips with what has happened.

'We’re trying to remind ourselves that the demons who took you away from us were always part of the deal. After all, it was the way you sang about those demons that made everyone fall in love with you in the first place.' 

The frontman had been open about his history of substance abuse and admitted in one interview in 2011 that he had once been a 'full blown, raging alcoholic'.

He went to rehab for his drug and alcohol addiction after marrying his second wife Talinda in 2005 and said he really began to change in 2007.

In a 2011 interview, he said he was sober: 'I don't drink. I choose to be sober now. I have drunk over the last six years, but I just don't want to be that person anymore.'

Formed in 1996, Linkin Park rose to international fame with the huge success of their debut studio album, Hybrid Theory (2000), which went on to sell more than 32 million copies worldwide over the years.

The debut featured the strength of the four hit singles One Step Closer, In The End, Crawling and Papercut.

Earlier this month, Linkin Park announced they had recruited a new lead singer, Emily Armstrong, and revealed plans for a world tour and album.  

But the news sparked backlash, with Chester's son Jaime calling out Emily's ties with Scientology, and past support of actor Danny Masterson, while his mother Susan Eubanks accused the band of reneging on their promise to let her know if they planned to reunite.  

Jaime spoke out against Emily as replacement after it emerged she had previously supported That 70s Show actor Danny - who was convicted of rape and sentenced to at least 30 years in prison, have ignited backlash.

'People aren't having a difficult time wrapping their heads around the prospect of Linkin Park reinventing itself,' Jaime said Sunday, according to Page Six.

He added: 'They're having a hard time wrapping their head around how you: 1). hired your friend of many years @emilyarmstrong to replace [Chester].'

Jaime said that the musical group 'has refused to acknowledge the impact of hiring someone like Emily,' who has since said that she 'misjudged' the Masterson situation and believed she had been 'supporting a friend.'

Jaime said that that Shinoda, 47, mistimed the announcement of Armstrong joining the band in September, which is Suicide Prevention Month.

Meanwhile Chester's mother Susan claimed she only found out about Armstrong 'on Google' and said the 'betrayal' had left her in tears.

Despite alleged run-ins in recent years with rapper Mike Shinoda and turntablist Joe Hahn, she claims neither told her a reunion was in the works.