Tragic Ending: Inside 'Everybody Loves Raymond' Star Sawyer Sweeten's 'Dark' Days After Turning His Back On Hollywood

As fans recover from the loss of Sawyer Sweeten, a close friend gives RadarOnline.com new exclusive insight into the teen's "dark" final days.

As RadarOnline.com was the first to report, Sweeten committed suicide on April 23 at the age of 19. But according to the friend, there were issues for long before that.

"Sawyer was going through a really dark and emotional period for quite some time," the insider said.

"In the past year he shut out everyone that was really close to him, including family members and friends."

On Everybody Loves Raymond, which ran from 1996 until 2005, Sawyer and his twin brother, Sullivan, played Geoffrey and Michael Barone, respectively. Their real life sister, Madylin, played Ally Barone on the series.

Having been off the air for a decade, the family source told RadarOnline.com, "Sawyer recently said to his management that he was no longer interested in pursuing a career in entertainment."

"But he did not know what else he wanted to do with his life," said the source. "He just said that he was 'done with the spotlight.'"

According to Sawyer's cousin, Jacklyn Stines, 64, Sawyer may have even suffered from depression, as she recently told the Daily Mail, "I've heard he was depressed, but I don't know what exactly about," she said. "There is a history of depression in the family, all through. Many of them are on medication for depression."

Sawyer's family and Raymond castmates have continued to show their love and support for each other during this dark time through touching tributes on Twitter.