Giancarlo Esposito Says He Was So Broke He Considered Arranging His Own Murder

Giancarlo Esposito looked back at his financial struggles this week, recalling a time when he considered ordering his own murder in pursuit of a life insurance payout for his family.

During an appearance on SiriusXM’s Jim & Sam show, Esposito said he went through two bankruptcies before landing Breaking Bad, as well as a foreclosure on his home. At his lowest, he told the hosts, he considered suicide.

“The first thing that had me think there was a way out, was my wife’s father — God rest his soul — Pops McManigal was in insurance,” Esposito said. “So I asked [my ex-wife], I started poking around, ‘How much am I insured for?’ And then she told me. My way out in my brain was, I said, ‘Hey, do you get life insurance, if someone commits suicide, do they get the bread?’ And my wife said, ‘Well, that’s kind of tricky.’”

Esposito said from there, he “just started scheming.”

“If I got somebody to knock me off, death through misadventure, they would get the insurance,” he said. “I had four kids. I wanted them to have a life. It was a hard moment in time. I literally thought of self-annihilation so that they could survive. That’s how low I was.”

Though he came close to the drastic measure, Esposito said it was his family that ultimately saved him.

“I started to think, that’s not viable because the pain I would cause them would be lifelong, and lifelong trauma that would just extend the generational trauma with which I’m trying to move away from,” he said. “The light at the end of the tunnel was Breaking Bad. I had a few little things before to start to recover, but Breaking Bad was the light.”

Esposito played the villainous drug kingpin Gus Fring on AMC’s Emmy-winning show. He reprised the character for the network’s spinoff, Better Call Saul, but said this week he ultimately turned down an offer to join the Breaking Bad universe for good.

“I did a guest spot on that show, and even then, after doing one guest spot, they come back to do another. They offered me a contract; I said, ‘No.’ It empowered me,” he said. “The reason I said no is because it was the end of the third season and they wanted me to sign a contract where I had six months. They would have given me some money, which would have been great, would have been a holding fee, but I would have to go to them to say, ‘Can I do the Disney project? Can I do this? Can I do that?’ And I was in fear that they would say no. I also didn’t know what their intention was.”

Since then, Esposito has gone on to land roles in The Mandalorian, The Boys and AMC’s new show Parish. On the big screen this year, he’s also featured in Abigail and MaXXXine.