HIS MENTAL HEALTH RECOVERY
Paris stood by troubled Tyson He hid his illness from his children suddenly decided to quit boozing and declared he was returning to the ring. “That night he’d gone out drinking in a skeleton costume,” says Paris. “But he came back home early at about 10pm and said, ‘I don’t want to do that any more. “I don’t want to be out there. I was walking around that bar feeling a fool’. “Then he went upstairs, took the costume off and said ‘I’m not drinking any more. I’m going to start boxing Tyson found courage to seek help from doctors again’. And he did.” Tyson started training full-time and the couple’s fourth child Valencia was born on December 4 last year – joining Venezuela, 9, Prince John James, 7, and two-year-old Prince Tyson Luke.
“It was really hard for him to get back to fitness,” says Paris.
“The first time he went for a run he came back and said, ‘I can’t run at all, I can barely walk’.
“I watched him train and lose the weight. It’s amazing what he’s done.” Tyson finally found the courage to seek help from doctors and find the root cause of his problems. Paris says: “They sent him for counselling. He went by himself but he would come back and talk to me about it. “He was prescribed anti-depressants but never took them. “The important thing was being diagnosed. I’d advise anyone to do the same.
DEFIED
“Now he speaks out about his mental health. He’s told me, ‘If I can help one person I’ll be happy.
“I don’t want anyone to go through what I have’.”
“He had two years in the gutter, fighting himself. Now he’s defied the odds again.”
Recalling last weekend’s epic fight she says: “It was the worst experience ever. I’ve seen Tyson go down in a couple of his previous fights, but normally he’s straight back up.
“This was the first time it seemed he was staying down but he beat the count and charged straight in.
“I went to the dressing room afterwards and hugged him, saying ‘Don’t let go of me just for a minute’.
And now, Paris hopes, Tyson has also beaten the count in his mind for good. “I’m just so happy to see him back doing what he does,” she says. “I’ve got my husband back.”
patrick.hill@sundaymirror.co.uk
Tyson didn’t want to get up in the morning. He couldn’t see the point in living WIFE PARIS ON HOW BOXER’S LIFE HIT ROCK BOTTOM