In a video posted to DDP’s Yoga channel, former WWE Star Big Cass opened up about depression:
“Being depressed is one thing. Having depression on a daily basis is something different. Anyone that looks at them like they’re weak or a crybaby or whatever, that person is ignorant. ‘Why is this person upset? He has money and everything he dreamed of.’ That don’t mean f***-all when you’re not well [mentally]. It’s hard to tell people about it because who knows what they are going to say. ‘You’re looking for attention. You have everything you ever wanted. You’re just seeking more attention.’ So, you don’t tell anyone. You keep it to yourself,” he stated. “TV [tapings] were the worst for me because of anxiety. It ramped up after [my WWE debut]. I always had it, but I tried to hide it, which is the worst thing you can do. I had no medication, I had no one to talk to, I didn’t seek him. I self-medicated with alcohol. I was so down that I was like, ‘I wish that I wouldn’t be alive today. I wish that I would not have woken up.’ But I had to go to work.
I don’t know how I’m alive today. The amount I was drinking, and the food I was putting into my body was ridiculous. No psychical activity. Chain smoking cigarettes. When you’re making mistakes like that, you gotta go. [WWE] had every right in the world to get rid of me. Going into the [House of Hardcore] show, I literally had not slept in two days. Don’t remember walking through the curtain or going to the autograph table. [I] came to in the ambulance. I remember they told me I had a seizure. I took that as a sign from God. God spoke to me that day and was saying, ‘If you wanna live this life, you’re gonna end up dead.’ I could have died that night. That’s what I was told in the ER.”
“If anybody out there suffers with depression or anxiety and you’re hiding it because there’s a stigma out there that you’re weak, you’re not weak,” he said. “Whatever it is, you need to go seek help. Whether it’s medication or talk therapy or whatever it is that you need, you need to get it, because hiding it deep down isn’t going to work. That’s what I did for a long time and eventually, ‘Pop!’ It’s just an explosion. Whatever you need to do fix it, make sure you do that, because keeping that sh*t bottled up deep down, it ain’t worth it. From someone that lived it, seek help.”
