Ricky Hatton has revealed he dropped to his knees in tears and told his psychiatrist “I’m going to kill myself” at the height of his depression. The boxing legend, 44, has given his most revealing interview yet about his mental health struggles since retiring, but is now looking to help others through tough times.
The former world champion admitted that he sat alone in his living room thinking about taking his own life after a run of defeats in the ring preceded huge fallouts with his family. “I was sat in my living room and I was just thinking to myself 'you've got no boxing no more, you can't share what you've done with your mum and dad, you can't share it with your trainer, you haven't got a missus anymore’,” he said. “I thought what do I need to be here for? I didn't want to be here, I really didn't.”
Hatton’s mental health battles came to a crescendo when visiting a psychiatrist at his lowest point. “My girlfriend at the time got pregnant with my daughter Millie, and I thought 'come on Rick, it's not about you now, it's about the kids, get yourself together'. Even Millie couldn't get me back on track. I was still down. I went to speak to a psychiatrist in Manchester and threw myself on my knees and said 'you need to tell me what to do, I can't do it on my own, you need to tell me today what to do otherwise I won't be here next week, I'm going to kill myself'.”
The sessions thankfully worked, and Hatton is now in a much better place both mentally and physically. As well as the psychiatrist sessions, his mental health has been transformed by a renewed love of boxing training. He lost four stones in 12 weeks ahead of his hugely successful celebration fight at the Manchester Arena last November. The Hitman is now being courted for major TV work and will star in his own Sky documentary, out later this month.
Hatton made the extraordinary revelations to support the Campaign Against Living Miserably’s (CALM) suicide prevention work. He said: “If a former world boxing champion who won four world titles... I'm supposed to be a tough guy, I couldn't do it myself. It doesn't matter what I did in the boxing ring, I needed help. Never be scared to admit that you need help, I promise you it's the best thing you'll ever do.”
