London, May 13 (ANI): Lee Hendrie has admitted that he tried to kill himself twice after his career faded, lost a potential 10 million pounds in property deals and ended up with 1 million pounds in debts.
The Premier League star earned 40,000 pounds a week at Aston Villa. He had the wealth to spend on luxury cars and houses.
But beyond the roar of the crowd, a terrible future was waiting for the young sportsman.
While his England under-21 team-mates Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard went on to impressive careers, Lee's life fell apart.
"I -seriously wanted to end it all," the Mirror quoted Hendrie as saying.
"I had everything. I played for England at Wembley in front of my family, scored goals for Villa in front of 40,000 people. I was -playing with Lampard, Gerrard and Rio. I watch them now knowing I could still be in the top flight if it hadn't all gone wrong."
By 2010 he had lost everything.
"I couldn't get a contract with a club. I had no money left, all the houses were going and everything just came tumbling down," he said.
"I felt I had failed my family and I wanted out... to end it all."
Now he is fighting back and this week he will be tying the knot with fiancee Emma Cheal, 27, the mother of his two youngest children, who has stood by him through his darkest days.
It was her quick thinking that saved Lee when he first attempted suicide in August 2010.
His life had sunk into depression over a career wrecked by injury and his intimidating money problems.
After a row with Cheal he drove off in his car and downed an overdose of tablets with a bottle of wine in a car park. She called police who traced Lee by his mobile phone signal and told her where to find him. She arrived at the car park just in time to take him to hospital.
"I had texted my mum and sister, told them to look after the kids," said Lee.
"Emma rang me, I answered the phone. I was all over the place. She said 'where are you?' I said 'don't worry' and put the phone down Next thing I knew I was waking up in hospital on a drip."
But again in last July, he took another overdose as he realised his mum's house and other family properties faced repossession. This time he was on life support for 24 hours.
He found tablets Emma had hidden and drove to his mum's home, where he grabbed more pills and locked himself in the bathroom.
"I knew everything was going under. My mum didn't know I had the tablets and I got double the amount as last time just to make sure I did the job properly," Lee said.
"I remember being sat on the edge of the toilet seat and then I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror and thought: 'I am a disgrace'. That was it, the next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital. I had been on life support because the amount of tablets I had taken had shut my body down to virtually nothing.
"I was told the bathroom door was kicked off. I was in hospital five days. I made a lot of people angry and upset again."
After that attempt Lee began to face up to his problems and has attended regular counselling sessions.
Now playing non-league football and scraping a living wherever he can, Lee said: "It was my wake-up call. I imagined my four children if they didn't have their dad around."
The death of his former Sheffield United team-mate Gary Speed, found hanged at his home, was a shocking reminder of the damage his actions could have caused to his whole family.
"I remember the day when he died I just felt sick. I couldn't believe it. I felt it could have been me. Speedo was top-drawer. I saw what happened to his wife and kids afterwards and thought about how they must be feeling."
"I am judged as an arrogant footballer and a womaniser but I am not a bad person."
"I just hope my -experience can help others seek help and talk to someone," he added. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
