Timbaland responds to ‘possible suicide attempt’ reports

NEW YORK - Rapper Timbaland has responded to reports that he might be contemplating suicide over the disappearance of a watch.

Timbaland, 39, became the focus of a Malibu manhunt on August 23 after family members became concerned that the abrupt disappearance of a watch may have driven him over the edge.

According to TMZ.com, the hip-hop artist’s mother-in-law made a frantic 911 call after a 2-million-dollar Jacob and Co. wristwatch went missing and prompted him to drop off the grid.

After receiving the call, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department dispatcher reportedly sent out a “possible suicide attempt” APB, and a helicopter and squad cars were mobilized.

Deputies soon found Timbaland driving his Escalade down the Pacific Coast Highway, and after determining that he was not a threat to himself, paramedics released him.

Timbaland, who was surprised by the whole thing, called in to Ryan Seacrest’s morning radio show on August 24 to say that he’s alive and well - though a few million dollars poorer.

“It ain’t nothin’ to worry about. I don’t know what happened to be honest with you, I don’t know what people are talking about,” the New York Daily News quoted him as saying in the interview.

He said the disappearance of the costly timepiece wasn’t eating him nearly as much as the knowledge that someone in his inner circle had probably stolen from him.

“It’s people that are close to you, you know? So only thing I did was take a drive to figure out how I’m gonna handle it,” he explained.

“People steal from me all the time. Stuff did happen, it wasn’t a watch it was something else,” he said.

The ordeal, which Seacrest declared a “non-story”, had Timbaland more than a little miffed.

“I snapped, Who the freak reported something like that? Why would I commit suicide?” he added. (ANI)