- TOnton Lienert-Brown has played 79 Tests for New Zealand
- The 29-year-old is one of the best rugby players in the world.
All Blacks star Anton Lienert-Brown has revealed his battle with anxiety was so intense he often believed he was having a heart attack despite being one of the fittest men on the planet.
His current health battle occurred when he established himself as one of the best rugby players in the world while starring in the 2019 and 2023 World Cups.
Lienert-Brown’s anxiety caused him to experience daily panic attacks and depression.
“He made living every day difficult,” said the 79-Test All Black Stuff.
‘Over the years my anxiety got worse and worse to the point where I was having constant panic attacks on a daily basis and it became really difficult.
“It was a spiral and a spiral and a spiral to the point where I was having a panic attack… I felt like I was having a heart attack, but I wasn’t.”
The in-house facility now sees a psychiatrist, who prescribed anti-anxiety medication that Lienert-Brown continues to take.
He has bravely broken his silence in a bid to help others struggling with their own mental health.
All Blacks star Anton Lienert-Brown (pictured, playing against the Wallabies last month) has revealed his battle with anxiety was so tough he often thought he was going into cardiac arrest.
Lienert Brown (pictured with partner Liv Robertson) bravely broke her silence in a bid to help others struggling with their own mental health.
The inside center made his Test debut in 2016 and will play the 80th Test on October 26 against Japan.
‘It took me a long time to seek help. “I should have received it much sooner,” he said.
‘I’m like many other (kiwi) men out there. You find it difficult to talk about your feelings.
“I struggled for years…until I was probably just hanging by a thread.”
Lienert-Brown has used ice baths, saunas and meditation to keep his anxiety under control and is now a proud ambassador for Mind Set Engage, a New Zealand rugby mental wellbeing initiative.
She added that hearing other people talk openly about their struggles and the tools they used to cope with them has been enormously beneficial.
The 29-year-old will be New Zealand’s vice-captain when they take on Eddie Jones’ Japan in Yokohama on October 26.
Japan has never beaten the All Blacks in a test, but the Brave Blossoms won many fans after New Zealand won 38-31 in a clash in Tokyo two years ago.