‘I was in a bad way’: Conor Benn reveals struggles after positive drug tests
Conor Benn has said he felt suicidal after his positive drug tests caused his fight with Chris Eubank Jr to be cancelled in October, with the former twoweight world champion saying: “I didn’t think I’d see another day.”
Benn’s much-hyped showdown with Eubank was called off just three days before it was due to take place after the former admitted to failing drug tests in July and September.
Benn, 26, was asked on Piers
Morgan Uncensored if he had felt suicidal and he replied: “Yeah, I’d say so, yeah and it upsets me now because I don’t know how I got so bad. I got in a really bad way. I struggled. There was probably about two months where … I was in a really bad way.”
When asked if he had spoken to his father, former world champion Nigel Benn, about his emotional state, Benn added: “I did, but my dad was in a bad way as well. I was sobbing most nights. I didn’t want to go to sleep because I knew what I had to wake up to. You’ve got to remember this was a nightmare for me. How has this happened? How have I got into this situation?”
Last month, the WBC ruled a “highly elevated consumption of eggs” was a “reasonable explanation” for Benn’s adverse finding.
Benn also spoke about the abuse he has received on social media since the Eubank fight was called off, adding: “There’s been too many. ‘Kill yourself’, racist comments to my son, to my family. Nothing in person, it’s cowardly. I don’t think it’s social media that bothers me, it was more so the shame I felt leaving the house, although I’d done nothing wrong.
“I was having night terrors, panic attacks. I don’t throw these words [around]. Mental health, I was really struggling. I was in a really bad way and I was coping terribly with it. I was coping really bad with it.”
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.