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Matt Hughes committed suicide, but his death was kept secret for months. What made Discovery channel cover up his death?

Matt Hughes, the 30-year-old meteorologist from Discovery Channel’s hit realty show Storm Chasers, attempted to commit suicide by hanging May 14. TMZ reports Hughes died 10 days later in Wichita, Kansas “due to an injury unrelated to his chasing activities.” The medical examiner has since confirmed he died from hanging. Oddly enough, Hughes’ death was only made public during a Nov. 3 episode titled “Dedication” on the Discovery Channel — but that was months after he actually passed away.

Those close to Hughes, attempted to get the word out about their friend’s death. Wichita’s KAKE-TV’s website had a blog post from friend and former colleague Aaron Blaser, titled “R.I.P. Matt,” on June 7.

Aaron detailed, “Matt was in the hospital for several days in intensive care, there was a 24-hour vigil outside the waiting room, family, other chasers, business associates, etc. … What a lot of us didn’t know was that he suffered from depression.”

It seems strange the Discovery Channel would refrain from addressing the death of one of their stars for months after the incident occurred — do you think they wanted to give his family space, or is there something they were hiding?

Jen Murray