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Kate Walsh defends '13 Reasons' depiction of suicide: 'Anything that's kept secret is intertwined with shame'

Maeve McDermott

As controversy builds around the new Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and the teen drama's depiction of assault and suicide, the show's stars are coming to its defense.

Kate Walsh plays Olivia Baker, the grieving mother of Hannah (Katherine Langford), the teenager whose suicide sits at the center of the show. Speaking at Variety's Power of Women event in NYC, Walsh defended 13 Reasons creator Brian Yorkey's decision to show Hannah's suicide, rather than keep the scenes off-screen.

Kate Walsh plays a grieving mother on Netflix' '13 Reasons Why.'

"I think that anything that's at all kept secret is inextricably intertwined with shame and secrecy, (and) should be outed," she told USA TODAY. "I can't speak for Brian, but I know that it was important for us to be as honest as we could."

"Part of the problem is not talking about it and not seeing it, and not seeing what really happens, and that it's this mysterious kind of thing that's never spoken about or never seen," she continued. "And we just shove it under the rug, and nobody talks about it, and we just hope that it doesn't happen to them or their children or friends or family. So I think that (for) Brian, it was an important decision to be as real and as accurate as we could and show how painful it is, physically, emotionally and in every other sense."

In an interview with E! News, Walsh described the difficult process of filming the series. "I spoke to two parents that had a child that died by suicide and I spoke to a psychiatrist, who deals with family therapists, but particularly with families that lost someone in the family to suicide, so it was really helpful to talk to people from both areas and to get as specific as I could," she said.