'I wanted to drink myself to death': Ricky Hatton opens up about painful mental health battle
manchestereveningnews.co.ukRicky Hatton is looking back at some of his lowest moments. And as you might expect he doesn't pull his punches. "I had a knife at my wrist every night," the Manchester boxing hero says. "I had the bottle to get in the ring with anyone but knew I couldn’t do the one thing I wanted to do.
I didn’t have the bottle to slit my wrists.” Hatton is talking about his life after losing to Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas in May 2009, the Mirror reports.
His spectacular career looked to be at an end. That and other factors combined to wreck his mental health. Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features. He recalls: “On my own at home I was having panic attacks and crying because of not being able to [kill myself] until I ended up thinking, ‘I’ll drink and drug myself to death.’” Today, happily, the former champ, 44, is back from a family holiday in Tenerife and looking relaxed and healthy ahead of the premiere of Hatton, a devastatingly honest documentary about his incredible life.
He’s proud of it and believes it has a message. “Non-boxing people will enjoy this,” he says. “Enjoy” might not be the right word but non-boxing people will certainly be gripped.
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