On Saturday, June 14, NEEDTOBREATHE frontman William Stanley “Bear” Rinehart III, 44, responded to his younger brother, Bryant “Bo” Rinehart, 43, and his accusations of “sexually, physically and emotionally” abusing him as a child.
The two brothers founded the rock band NEEDTOBREATHE in 1998, which has gone on to be successful in both the secular and Christian markets.
In 2020, NEEDTOBREATHE announced that Bo was leaving the band.
“I feel the need to comment on the deeply hurtful and misleading accusations that my brother Bo made the other night on social media,” Bear said in a social media post. “I love Bo deeply and I always will. Since his departure from the band over five years ago, we have done everything in our power to treat him with respect and privacy. I would never choose to disparage him, especially at a time where he is clearly in pain.”
RELATED: NEEDTOBREATHE Frontman Bear Rinehart Accused by Younger Brother Bo of Sexual Abuse
“But,” Bear explained, “as a father and husband, I must protect my family from claims that misrepresent the truth.”
Bear shared that he made the choice to keep the trauma he experienced as a child private in order to protect his family. “Until now, I had chosen to not share this publicly—not because I’m ashamed, but because I’ve wanted to protect my family,” Bear said. “I have three young boys, and I wanted them to hear about my story from me directly, when the time is right and not through social media or online speculation.”
“Bo’s post has now made it impossible for me to remain private about this period of our childhood any longer,” he continued. “I can only hope that God has a plan for this down the road. I have always respected Bo’s right to speak about his own story, but I cannot allow him to misrepresent mine.”
Bear went on the tell his social media followers:
My brother and I were both sexually abused at the age of 8 and 6 by a teenage counselor at the Christian camp where we grew up. Neither of us received support for these events until well into adulthood and were both left to navigate the rest of childhood and adolescence with deep pain and confusion. I carried shame and anger for years after, but through many hours of counseling and the support of friends and family I was able to share it with, I truly believe I have found freedom from it.
“Bo’s recent accusation of me conflates our shared experience of abuse with a childhood incident he misrepresents,” Bear added. “While going through a two day intensive counseling session with Bo five years ago, I learned that he was hurt by things that happened in our early teen years as well. At that counseling session I took full responsibility for any part I played in that pain.”
Bear said that both he and his brother “processed those moments of shared trauma in detail and left with an understanding that we were two young boys trying to cope with the unimaginable.”
