During his childhood, Landon was constantly worrying about his mother attempting suicide. On a family beach vacation his mother tried to drown herself, but Michael rescued her. Shortly after the attempt, his mother acted as if nothing happened and a few minutes later, Michael vomited. He said that it was the worst experience of his life. Stress overload from the suicide attempts of his mother caused Landon to battle the childhood problem of bedwetting, which was documented in the unauthorized biography "Michael Landon: His Triumph and Tragedy". His mother put his wet sheets on display outside his window for all to see. He ran home every day and tried to remove them before his classmates could see.