Tyson Fury has opened up on the mental health problems he has faced and promised those suffering: 'We will have sunshine days again’.
In an exclusive interview with Majestic on talkSPORT 2 - to be aired in full at 3pm today - the world heavyweight champion explained how the biggest fight of his life has been outside the ring and revealed what has helped him to come back from the depths of despair and depression.
In 2015, after dethroning Waldimir Klitschko with one of the greatest performances from a British fighter on foreign soil, Fury slipped into a state of depression.
As well as alcohol and cocaine abuse, ‘The Gypsy King’ was dealing with bipolar disorder and was engrossed by suicidal thoughts.
As his weight ballooned, his titles slipped from his grasp and his boxing career seemed resigned to history.
But Fury sought medical help, got back into training and into stronger shape physically and mentally and made his return to the ring in 2018 after more than two years out of the sport.
In February 2020, his arc was complete when he defeated Deontay Wilder to win the WBC heavyweight championship of the world and reclaim his place on the throne of the division.
Fury is now preparing for a fight which could well define him as the greatest British boxer off all time, with a unification showdown against fellow countryman Anthony Joshua set for this sumner.
Yet Fury, 32, remains in a constant battle to keep his mind in a healthy state and had an inspiring message for anyone out there who is struggling right now.
“We battle everyday as humans and people who suffer in silence, we are in a daily battle,” he said.
“I feel like now I have been able to manage my mental health through training and I use it as a medicine.
“I use structured routine, like a regimented lifestyle sort of, I like to know what I am doing and I like to have certainty in my life. If I’ve not got certainty in my life, everything seems to go AWOL.
“My mind starts wandering and I go very unwell again, so I like to keep myself focused on things like short term goals and that is how I maintain my battle with mental health.
“People say to me on a regular basis, ‘You’re over mental health’. You never get over mental health; it’s not 'if', it's 'when' you go back to it. Remember when I said it was like the Hotel California song, you can check out anytime but you can never leave?
“That’s what mental health is to me because I know it is always going to be there and part of my life. The sooner I understood that, the sooner I could get on the road to recovery.
“If there is anybody out there who doesn’t know what to do or whatever, the best advice I could give anybody is communication with people – be it a doctor or a friend, whoever.
“Whoever you feel like you can communicate to better, speak to that person because as soon as you get help, you can start to get on to the road to recovery and get back to being well again.
“My mistake was I never spoke to anybody for a long period of time and I just suffered in silence and it very nearly killed me. Then I started speaking to doctors and seeking medical help, I wished to God I had done it 15 years earlier.
“I wouldn’t have had to go through a mental breakdown and all the s*** I went through, but here we are, I am on the other side of it now and I have learned to maintain and manage the problems and I’m living life, got a good tan, I’m in America and life is good at the moment.
“I never want to go back to that lonely, dark, horrible, grey place where you wake up every morning and think, ‘Why the f*** did I just wake up?’
“But I can guarantee and I can even promise you guys that we will have sunshine days again and that today is not the end and we don’t need to kill ourselves, we don’t need to do anything stupid to ourselves, we just need to reach out and get help.
"There are helping hands out there and there are lots of different people you can speak to like support groups. I never had any family groups who understood, they thought I was a little attention-seeking motherf*****.
“But I wasn’t; I just didn’t know what to do, who to speak to, I didn’t know where to start and when I got to know where to go, I got back on the road to recovery and I went from 400lbs to 250lbs and from heart-attack material and attempting suicide to back being the two-time heavyweight champion of the world.”
Fury is currently waiting to fight Joshua to determine who the greatest heavyweight is of this current generation, with all four major belts on the line.
A clash between the British rivals seems destined for Saudi Arabia this summer, with Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn both confirming the date to talkSPORT.
Despite such a titanic tussle looming ominously on the horizon, Fury remains simply grateful to be living and enjoying life as a man free of the shackles which ensnared his mind.
To wake up every morning having come through the other side of his battles remains his greatest achievement.
He concluded: “I’ve been an alcoholic, I’ve been a drug addict, I’ve been a fat b***** because I am a food addict and there’s not much I haven’t been addicted to, to be fair.
“But I have recovered and I do feel better for it. There is life after mental health, if you manage it, and the last thing we need is for people to give in to mental health.
Read More on talkSPORT
“It is a fight, it is a battle that we will have to continue to battle and fight for our whole life. But life is so much worth fighting for.”
Tyson Fury was speaking to Majestic on talkSPORT 2 during Mental Health Awareness Week. You can listen to the full interview on talkSPORT 2 from 3pm today online here, through the talkSPORT app, on DAB radio or through your smart speaker.
ncG1vNJzZmiskaG4tLzOq6tnm5%2BifLS8zquraJqfrbavs45xbnJsYmV8tcXSqKVmnqWnxm65xKermqRdnbKiuNOhZKKro6qytHnAppmaq6OWsbC%2BjKGcpahdqL2mrcpmmqimpJawtXs%3D