NFL and Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery opened up in a big way in a recent podcast appearance he made. He revealed the suicidal thoughts that he had earlier in his career and how he overcame the struggles. It is truly amazing to see another professional athlete open up genuinely and bring attention to the mental struggles that we can all face as human beings.
David Montgomery Opens Up About Overcoming Suicidal Thoughts
The former Chicago Bears starter admitted that his rookie year was an incredibly challenging year for him. Montgomery suffered intense depression for some of the things he was dealing with in his life, and in part due to so much fan hate he received from fans playing fantasy football, and sports betting:
“When I was a rookie, I had a real, real stressful time in the league,” Montgomery said on Sports Illustrated’s “Fantasy Dirt” podcast with Michael Fabiano and Lindsay Rhodes.
“I was at a point where I would have this suicidal thought and it just a depressing and a scary year for me. And unfortunately, fantasy, the people in fantasy were kind of helping — they were helping me kind of be aided to feeling that way. I was at a point where I was scared to live.”
It is just heartbreaking to hear that fans and gamblers helped him go to darker places. Thankfully Montgomery was able to find the right support around him to be able to lean on and work through these struggles, and he revealed that he found a reason to live. The person who saved his life was his nephew:
“I went through all of that stuff and one person who saved my life was my nephew. I was in a situation to where I was this close to doing something that I knew I shouldn’t have done, that would have changed the trajectory of my life or changed the trajectory of everybody else around me in my life,” Montgomery said. “And my nephew called me, right when I was in the midst of doing so. And he didn’t say anything about football. He didn’t say anything about how fast I was. He just said, ‘Uncle Dave, I miss you. How are you doing?’ And my nephew, and it meant so much to me, because my nephew, he has leukemia.
“And I was in a very dark place, very very dark place. And from that point on, hearing my nephew’s voice, I made a vow to myself and a promise to myself that I would never, ever allow anybody else to have that much control over my mind, my body to make me feel like I wasn’t worth anything or valued in a light to where I had a purpose on this Earth.”
It is truly awful to see what sports gambling can do to these players who just receive not stop hate from ‘fans’. Gambling has ruined the sport and the fans in so many ways, and for people to send so much hateful energy to such young men constantly is truly a tragedy of the culture and zeitgeist of our generation.
Montgomery highlighted the incredible importance of finding professional tools to deal with what he was going through, and that his therapist was crucial in helping him deal with his suicidal thoughts.
“Yeah, it was scary, but I got a really good therapist,” Montgomery said. “I’ve been working with a therapist for five years now, and being able to regulate and express my emotions and being able to allow myself to know that I am enough, you know, and I’ve been through a lot of things. I’ve been through a lot of places where people don’t even know who I am. But I get to create that perception for myself, to how I view myself and how my son views me. And, you know, I’m having the best time of my life. And I’m enjoying life for exactly what it is.”
It is amazing to hear that Montgomery has been able to not only find a reason to live but to also try and thrive in his life. Now with the Lions, he has become a fundamental piece of their incredible offense and has taken part in changing that organization from the worst to one of the best.
It is even more incredible to see a young man talk about the incredible mental struggles that he dealt with even in the face of accomplishing his dreams of making it to the NFL. Fans have to understand that these young men can enter the league at 21 or 22 years old and to send so much hateful and negative energy for such stupid reasons to young men trying to find their way is simply disgusting.
Thankfully Montgomery has risen above the losers filled with hate and has been able to find the support and reasons to live. Football, fantasy football, and sports gambling are never that big of a deal in the face of life and death.