A top local surgeon and the ex-husband of ABC News’ chief women’s health correspondent killed himself by leaping off the George Washington Bridge, it was reported Sunday.
Dr. Robert Ashton, 52 — who was divorced from Dr. Jennifer Ashton two weeks ago — jumped from the span around 8:40 a.m. Saturday, the Fort Lee Daily Voice said.
The pair lived across the street from each other in Fort Lee, which is in the shadow of the bridge.
“Our hearts r broken that the father of my teenage children took his own life yesterday,” Jennifer Ashton wrote on her Facebook page Sunday.
Although she didn’t specify what drove her ex to suicide, Jennifer Ashton said his death should serve as a wake up call to anyone with a loved one suffering from depression.
Robert Ashton had been a thoracic surgery director at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, according to the Daily Voice, and chief thoracic surgeon at Hackensack University Medical Center.
His body was recovered at Hazard’s Dock in the Palisades Interstate Park.
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