England ace Kelly: My suicide torment
FOOTBALL STAR’S BATTLE WITH DEPRESSION
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ENGLAND’S top female football star has revealed she wanted to kill herself when depressed.
Striker Kelly Smith told how she hit rock bottom when she broke her leg and could not play.
The Three Lions’ record goalscorer said she thought suicide was the only way out.
Former Arsenal striker Kelly said: “I was very, very low to the point where I had suicidal thoughts.
“I remember looking at the lighting fixtures and the wardrobe fixtures and thinking: ‘Could I hang a bed sheet there and hang myself ?’”
She told ITV News London: “Those were my deepest, darkest days.”
Kelly was living the dream when she became the first professional female footballer after joining US side New Jersey in 1999. But five years later she broke her leg and slumped into a depression, drinking a bottle of vodka a night. Eventually she faced her demons and went to rehab before resurrecting her career at Arsenal. Kelly, now 38 and retired, spoke out just days after Everton’s Aaron Lennon was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
The Professional Footballers’ Association revealed more players have sought help for mental health issues in 2017 than in all of last year.
The PFA created a 24-hour hotline in 2012 after the death of then Wales manager Gary Speed. Former Wales goalkeeper Jason Brown joined Kelly and spoke about his issues to mark yesterday’s start of Mental Health Awareness Week.
He said: “Since I was eight I’ve known what I wanted to do.
“Then all of a sudden this massive void was there in my life. There was no training, there was no: ‘Where am I going to be, why am I doing it?’” ¬
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