Suicide threats as manipulation

I just read some blog posts condemning RFK jr for ignoring his estranged wife when she was threatening suicide.  He apparently said he didn't want to help her because she wasn't helping herself.  She also had a well documented problem with alcohol.

Ok.  I don't know these people so I can neither condemn nor support the decision or choices they made.  Here is what I do know and have experienced.  Alcoholism and drug addictions are one long slow suicide.  Alcoholics and drug addicts have been known to threaten suicide in order to control the people around them.  My father did this to my family for years.  We wanted him to stop drinking and taking drugs, and he didn't want to stop.  His addictions had passively been the center of our family life, but when I was 12, they became the active center of our family.  My house became a war zone.  What drove me as a teenager was to get out of my house and as far away as possible.  The suicide threats started when I left for college.  At first it was a successful strategy - we were all totally focused on him.  Eventually though I heard a recovering alcoholic speak and realized that my father was 1) already committing suicide by drinking and taking drugs, and 2) had no intention of committing suicide more actively.  I disengaged from him and he eventually stopped drinking.  

More recently, a (former) friend of mine made suicide threats to his daughters.  He is an active alcoholic who has been in a long, downward spiral.  For a few years he was presenting himself as helpless so that his daughters would feel like they had to visit him to make sure he was taking care of himself.  When that stopped being an effective method of control he began to imply that he would kill himself.  I had a long talk with the girls and shared my experiences with my father.  The points I made were that 1) their father was committing suicide by drinking, 2) he likely had no intention of making an active suicide attempt, and 3) even if he did commit suicide they were not responsible for his actions.  I have no idea if I had any lasting impact on the girls. 

Like I said, I don't know the Kennedys.  I'm sure there is plenty of blame to go around.  One thing I do know is that no external force could convince me to kill myself or not.  I made the choice to attempt suicide despite that fact that I know many people love me and would have been traumatized by my death.  When my first attempt failed, I chose not to make another one because I wasn't ready.  I have since made a choice to treat my depression because I have come to realize that the desire to commit suicide is a symptom of a disease.   I think it's possible that Mary Kennedy had threatened suicide before and her husband was tired of the manipulation.  Or maybe not.  I do know that if at some point in the future I stop treating my depression and kill myself - it will be no one's responsibility but mine.