Sydney Roosters star Angus Crichton opens up on harrowing mental health battle: ‘Police had just Tasered me’

Sydney Roosters star Angus Crichton has lifted the lid on his mental health issues after stepping away from rugby league last season while dealing with bipolar disorder.

Ahead of the 2024 NRL season, the 28-year-old veteran forward spoke about his admission to a psychiatric facility in France at the end of 2022 and his battles with the condition after arriving home.

Crichton was rumored to have “fried his brain” with magic mushrooms while abroad, but Crichton says those reports are inaccurate, although he does not deny that he took the substance.

“It’s called a manic episode,” Crichton said. The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I was just manic. He wasn’t sleeping. He didn’t think clearly or make good decisions. No one was hurt, no one was hurt, but I was super energetic and very different from my normal self.

Crichton says ‘the wheels started falling off’ while on holiday in France

‘When I was in Amsterdam nothing happened in terms of reaction. We had fun. When I was in France, I was sober. He wasn’t even drunk. He didn’t have any substance there, but that’s when the wheels started to fall off a little bit.’

Crichton was prescribed medication and received treatment at mental health facilities while there. Later, his parents flew to France and soon took his son on a plane back to Australia.

The soccer star did not respond well to the medication he was prescribed and his body metabolized it faster than that of the average person.

“People constantly wanted to stay at my house with me,” he said. ‘They wanted to come and make sure I was taking medication.

‘I had to FaceTime them and show them that I was taking my medication. That was at a time when I was saying, ‘I don’t need to take medication.’ “I don’t want to take medication.”

His family and manager had a rule that if Crichton had not made a video call to prove he had taken his medication before midnight each day, they would be forced to call the police.

Which brings us to the night he was shot with a Taser and taken to a mental rehabilitation facility.

‘The police had just shot me with a stun gun…they tied me to this stretcher and shot me with a stun gun. “Imagine if you had a group of police officers and paramedics trying to tie you to a bed without you thinking there was any reason,” he said.

Crichton was Tasered, tied to a bed and taken to a psychiatric facility.

“What I didn’t realize at the time was that my dad had called them because he was scared.”

The Roosters star also took the time to address some of the rumors that were circulating about him.

“I had the outside world trying to figure out what the hell was going on,” he said.

“It became a kind of circus. People creating ridiculous rumors. I heard about text messages. It was crazy. A lot of it wasn’t true and it was tarnishing my reputation. They were some of the craziest things.

“I can tell you now that I haven’t worn a Souths shirt since I left the club. “I said I walked up to training in a Souths shirt and asked where Madge (former Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire) was.

“That just didn’t happen.”

Crichton won’t appear in the Roosters’ first game in Las Vegas, but he’s taking big steps to get his career back on track.

“I’m definitely a more resilient person because of what I went through,” she said.

“And if my time at the Roosters is coming to an end, I want people to think: ‘That Angus Crichton is a bloody good player’. I’m working towards that.

“I’m working to give some respect back to my name.”

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