Aaron Lennon has opened up to Jamie Carragher and Ian Wright about his mental health struggles towards the end of his career.
Lennon retired from football in November 2022 at the age of 35, having played for teams such as Tottenham, England and Everton throughout his career.
His final playing days were spent with Burnley in his second spell at the club, having initially played for the Clarets between 2018 and 2020 before leaving for a brief spell in Turkey with Kayserispor.
In 2017, he was detained under the Mental Health Act 2007 and taken to hospital after police were called to reports of danger to a man’s life while at Everton. He has since spoken out about the incident after receiving care for a stress-related illness.
Now, the 37-year-old has spoken out in the latest edition of The Overlap and detailed how he felt at the time of the incident.
Aaron Lennon has opened up about the mental health problems he suffered when he was hospitalized.
The former winger spoke to the likes of Jamie Carragher and Jamie Carragher about the incident seven years ago.
Lennon played for teams like England and Tottenham before moving to teams like Burnley and Everton.
“Seven years ago I was in a really bad situation,” he began. ‘Like severe depression.
‘It probably started before that, but I didn’t really know what was going on at the time. I just wake up every day, not realizing why I feel this way, energy is low, I’m not looking forward to joining the boys at training.
‘I was one of them, quite an old school personality, I keep to myself. I used to try to take care of everyone else. There was never a time where I thought, should I go and ask the doctor, “I don’t feel good here?”
‘So I tried to ignore it and it was getting worse and worse. You get to a point where you can’t even get out of bed, you don’t want to be around people, you just want to be in the dark.
“I was putting on a mask. I could walk into a room and you’d think, ‘He’s fine,’ I could walk in and say, ‘Yeah, guys,’ train and go down. But then I’d go home and literally go back to bed, and I did so for a long period of time.’
Lennon had not played for Everton for several months at the time of the incident, and police said: “Officers attended and a 30-year-old man was detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act and taken to hospital for assessment. “. ‘.
Lennon continued: “Probably just before I was at Everton, I was struggling. I couldn’t get out of bed. I couldn’t function.
‘At that moment I thought it would happen. I’m not sleeping. I no longer enjoy football, I no longer enjoy off the field, not even a night out or whatever with the boys.
“I didn’t want to put it on anyone else. I didn’t want to call my dad, my family. I was like, ‘No, I’ll fix this.’ It came to the stage, suicidal thoughts, so they finally evaluated me and admitted me. They literally took me to the hospital.
‘I still wouldn’t have entered. And that’s why to this day I tell people that if I hadn’t been sectioned, I probably wouldn’t be here having this conversation.
He explained how he had trouble getting out of bed and started not enjoying football or socializing.
Lennon made a total of 607 club appearances throughout his career and also earned 21 caps for England.
Lennon began playing for both Burnley and Kayserispor after recovering from the illness.
He finally retired almost two years ago, having made a total of 607 career appearances for the club, as well as 21 for the senior England team.