Little Couple’s Bill Klein reveals he was on verge of suicide when bullied in college

These days, The Little Couple‘s Bill Klein is one of the most well-liked personalities on television. So, it’s hard to imagine there was a time when he wasn’t as loved and accepted among peers.

In his upcoming memoir with wife Jennifer Arnold, Life is Short (No Pun Intended), Bill revealed he mercilessly bullied while attending New York University.

“I was called ‘m*dget,’ I was teased, I was ignored, I was threatened, I was chased, I was beaten up,” Bill said in the book, according to a Radar Online excerpt. He said the taunting came to a boiling point one night when eight other student threw objects at him from the top of a building. He reported the incident to police and the tormentors were taken into custody, but Bill ultimately decided against pressing charges.

To cope with the abuse, Bill said he turned to drinking.

“I would always arrive home alone and often fairly intoxicated,” he said. “Even then, I might extend the party a little bit longer in the dorm and inevitably wake up feeling miserable.”

Not surprisingly, the drinking didn’t help. Feeling “defined by my stature” and “inferior,” Bill explained in the book there was one night where he stepped onto the ledge outside the window of his stories-high dorm.

“I stood up and leaned against the wall next to the window,” he said. “I looked down to the place where I might die.”

Fortunately, he went back into the room — and soon found his life changing for the better when he got his first girlfriend. Years later, he reconnected with Jen on an online dating site. The pair married after two years of dating and are now the parents to two beautiful children.

The Little Couple returns to TLC on May 26, the same day their book is released.