Soap opera actor Nick Santino committed suicide last week after putting his pet dog to sleep.
Friends said Santino euthanized his 5-year-old pit bull because of pressure from the building management for his New York City apartment.
According to the New York Post, the dog was put down on his 47th birthday. The paper reported that he left behind a suicide note in which he said he “betrayed [his] best friend.”
Apparently in 2010, the building management started to enforce stricter rules regarding animals living in the building, including a ban on pit bulls. Animals who already lived in the building were exempt from the new restrictions, but neighbors told the paper that management and some residents had harassed Santino about his dog.
“Rocco trusted me and I failed him,” he wrote. “He didn’t deserve this.”
Santino, who appeared in All My Children, Guiding Light, and Gossip Girl, was found dead in his apartment on Wednesday.
According to his sister, he will be buried with Rocco.
