The Who rocker was arrested in 2003 after he allegedly used a credit card to access a child pornography site.
© Anthony D'Angio
Townshend insisted he was merely using the site for research, but did not fight the charges and accepted a police caution.
WENN reports that in his new autobiographical book Who I Am, Townshend reveals that the consequences of the incident nearly made him take his own life.
He wrote: "If I had a gun, I would have shot myself. It really did feel like a lynching."
Despite maintaining his innocence, Townshend did recently admit that his actions were "insane".
