athletes talking about mental health, in their own words.
curated, not aggregated. you're not alone in any of this.
NBA · Cleveland Cavaliers (at the time)
"I had a panic attack in the middle of a game."
In a 2018 Players' Tribune essay and the interviews that followed, Kevin Love was one of the first active stars in any major American sport to write openly about depression and panic.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I'd never heard about anyone in sports talk about it. It was kind of taboo. The thing I learned is that everyone is going through something."
NBA · Toronto Raptors (at the time)
"This depression get the best of me."
A 2018 tweet that opened a much wider conversation in the NBA about depression among elite athletes.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"No matter how indestructible we look like we are, in the end we're all human. We all got feelings, we all got things that bother us."
WNBA · Las Vegas Aces (at the time)
"My mental health was at an all-time low."
Cambage stepped away from the WNBA in 2021 and again in 2022, citing mental health, candid about anxiety and depression at the highest levels of women's basketball.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I had to choose me. The basketball court was the place where I felt the worst about myself."
NBA · former Houston Rockets
"Mental health doesn't get a day off."
Royce White was one of the first NBA players to publicly discuss anxiety disorder and force the league to confront mental health protocols.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I felt like I had to fight for things that should have just been understood."
WNBA, College Basketball · Tennessee Lady Vols, WNBA, Olympic gold medalist
"I had this great life, but I could barely get out of bed."
Once called 'the female Michael Jordan,' Chamique led Tennessee to three straight NCAA championships under Pat Summitt and was the #1 WNBA draft pick. She was eventually diagnosed with bipolar II and has dedicated her post-basketball life to mental health advocacy across college campuses.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I used to be a master at hiding it. I wanted everyone, my grandmother, my friends, and my coaches, to think that everything was OK, even when it wasn't."
Gymnastics · Team USA
"We have to protect our minds and our bodies."
At the Tokyo Olympics, Simone withdrew from team finals citing mental health and 'the twisties.' Her decision permanently shifted what tough means in elite sport.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"We have to do what's right for us and focus on ourselves. At the end of the day, we're not just athletes, we're people."
Gymnastics · 6-time Olympic medalist
"It's not weakness. It's strength."
Raisman has been a leading voice for gymnasts dealing with abuse trauma and mental health.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"It takes more strength to ask for help than to keep pretending you're okay. It took me a long time to learn that."
Figure Skating · former US National Champion
"I checked into a treatment facility for depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder."
Once expected to be the face of American figure skating, Gracie Gold stepped away in 2017 to seek treatment, and has since written openly about the road back.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"Stepping away didn't end my career. It saved it. I wouldn't be here, in any sense of the word, if I hadn't."
Tennis · 4-time Grand Slam champion
"It's okay to not be okay."
In 2021 Naomi withdrew from the French Open and later Wimbledon, citing depression and the toll of mandatory press.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I never wanted to be a distraction. The truth is I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018."
Tennis · 23-time Grand Slam champion
"Postpartum emotions can be brutal."
Serena has spoken publicly about postpartum depression, the medical trauma of her daughter's birth, and the mental toll of returning to elite competition after.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I'm sharing my story to let other women know that it's okay to ask for help. You're not alone."
Swimming · 23-time Olympic gold medalist
"After every Olympics, I think I fell into a major state of depression."
In the 2020 documentary 'The Weight of Gold' and a decade of interviews before it, Phelps has been unflinching about the post-Olympic crash and the identity vacuum that follows the highest highs.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I didn't want to be alive anymore. Therapy is the reason I'm sitting here today."
Swimming · 4-time Olympic gold medalist
"I felt like I was a failure."
After winning gold in London, Schmitt fell into a deep depression. She has since become one of the most vocal advocates for athlete mental health.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I won four Olympic medals and I still felt like I wasn't enough. That's when I knew something else was going on."
Track and Field · 11-time Olympic medalist
"I had to fight to come back and be myself."
After a near-fatal pregnancy and a public split with Nike, Allyson Felix returned to win bronze in Tokyo and has since spoken openly about the mental toll of comeback.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"Coming back wasn't just physical. The mental side took longer. I had to remember who I was on the other side of all of it."
Track and Field · formerly Nike Oregon Project
"I joined Nike because I wanted to be the best female athlete ever."
Mary Cain went public in 2019 about the toxic culture and disordered-eating pressure she experienced as a teenage prodigy at the Nike Oregon Project. Her disclosures led to systemic changes.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I was the fastest girl in America until I joined Nike, and then I was abused. I was getting weighed in front of teammates."
Track and Field · Olympic 100m gold medalist
"I have depression. I have anxiety. I'm on antidepressants."
The fastest man in the world has been openly speaking about taking medication for depression and anxiety since 2020.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I take antidepressants. I see a therapist. I'm faster because of it, not despite it."
Soccer · US Women's National Team, two-time World Cup champion
"I went through something dark. And I'm not afraid to say it."
Krieger has spoken openly about the mental toll of being a high-profile women's soccer player and navigating identity, divorce, and burnout.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"Behind everything that looked great on the outside, I was struggling. I was alone in a way I hadn't been before."
NFL · former Pro Bowl wide receiver
"I thought I was going crazy."
Diagnosed with borderline personality disorder mid-career, Marshall went on to become one of the NFL's loudest mental health advocates and co-founded Project 375.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I had everything I thought I wanted, and I was miserable. The diagnosis was the first day I had a name for what was happening to me."
NFL · Philadelphia Eagles, Super Bowl champion
"I'm not ashamed. I have anxiety."
Brandon Brooks won a Super Bowl with the Eagles while privately battling debilitating anxiety that sent him to the hospital before games. He came out publicly about it in 2016 and again in 2019 after being forced to leave a game mid-quarter, becoming one of the NFL's most public mental health advocates.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I'd vomit before every game. I thought it was something physical. I never imagined the brain could make you that sick. Once I knew, I could fight it."
NFL · Las Vegas Raiders (at the time)
"I just want to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay."
In 2021 Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to come out as gay. He has spoken about the mental health weight of staying closeted and the relief afterward.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable getting it off my chest."
NFL · Philadelphia Eagles
"I just couldn't get out of bed."
The Pro Bowl tackle stepped away from the Eagles in 2021 to address depression and anxiety, then returned and won a Super Bowl.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I couldn't function. I couldn't go to practice. I had to get help, and stepping away was the only way I was going to be able to come back."
NFL · former Carolina Panthers
"We had to learn that asking for help is the strongest play."
Cam Newton (former NFL MVP) and Steve Smith Sr. (Pro Bowl receiver, Hall of Fame caliber) sit down for a candid conversation about mental health, family, and the toll of being Black men in the NFL, as part of a BetterHelp campaign.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"We had to learn that the things we don't say can take us down faster than anything on the field. Talking to somebody, that's the strongest play."
WNBA · Texas Longhorns, Chicago Sky
"Attempting suicide and not succeeding is, like, the worst feeling ever."
Imani survived three suicide attempts before age 17, became a WNBA #10 pick out of the University of Texas, and uses poetry and her platform to talk publicly about depression, childhood abuse, and Black women's mental health. She founded the Hoops and Hope Foundation and is now also a lawyer.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"There's more to life than not wanting to die. I had to learn what living actually meant. I'm still learning."
if any of this is hitting too close, call or text 988, anytime.
NFL · Hall of Fame safety, Eagles and Broncos
"I was actually planning the way I would kill myself."
In his 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech, Brian Dawkins, one of the greatest safeties in NFL history, revealed for the first time in front of 22,000 people that he had spent his rookie season in deep depression with suicidal thoughts. The speech became one of the most important moments in athlete mental health history.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"There's hope. There is something on the other side of this. Don't get caught up where you are. Don't stay where you are. Keep moving. Keep pushing through."
if any of this is hitting too close, call or text 988, anytime.
NHL · former Vancouver Canucks goaltender
"I drove to the edge of a cliff."
Hirsch wrote an essay in 2017 detailing his battle with severe OCD during his NHL career, and how he came back from a moment of suicidal crisis to keep playing professionally.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I turned the car around. I'm here today because of that one decision, and because I asked for help when I got back."
if any of this is hitting too close, call or text 988, anytime.
MLB · former San Francisco Giants
"I survived. And I came back."
Robinson survived a suicide attempt in 2020 and has since become one of the most outspoken mental health advocates in baseball, returning to the major leagues after the attempt.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"I get to wake up every day and choose to be alive, and to help other people choose the same thing."
if any of this is hitting too close, call or text 988, anytime.
College Soccer · Stanford University
"You are loved, you are seen, you are enough."
Katie Meyer was Stanford's goalkeeper and team captain. After her death in 2022, her family founded Katie's Save to help students access trusted advocates during crisis.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"Katie's family asks that her story be used to remind every student-athlete: you are loved, you are seen, you are enough."
if any of this is hitting too close, call or text 988, anytime.
College Football · Washington State University
"You are not alone."
Tyler was Washington State's starting quarterback. After his death in 2018, his family founded Hilinski's Hope to fund mental health programs at colleges across the country.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"We're telling Tyler's story so that the next student-athlete who feels how he felt knows they're not alone, and knows where to go."
if any of this is hitting too close, call or text 988, anytime.
College Track and Field · University of Pennsylvania
"You don't know what someone is dealing with behind the scenes."
Madison was a freshman runner at Penn. Her family has worked since 2014 to make her story a vehicle for honest conversations about the gap between what college athletes show and what they carry.
if you can't watch right now, here's a piece of what they say:
"Madison's family wants every athlete to know: the smile on social media is rarely the whole picture, and asking for help is the strong move."
if any of this is hitting too close, call or text 988, anytime.