Tyson Fury went through a tumultuous period in his life between 2015 and 2018. He suffered from dreadful mental health and had taken up alcohol and drugs. During the nightmarish few years, Fury lost all his World Heavyweight titles. The British boxer has spoken up about his issues in several interviews.
Troubles started after he defeated Wladimir Klitschko in Germany in November 2015 to earn the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles. His mental health started to deteriorate tremendously after this.
In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, he said, “They say I’ve got a version of bipolar… I’m a manic depressive. I just hope someone kills me before I kill myself. … I’ve been out drinking, Monday to Friday to Sunday, and taking cocaine. I can’t deal with it and the only thing that helps me is when I get drunk out of me mind.”
In October 2016, Fury relinquished his WBA (Unified), WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles. He had already been stripped of the IBF title in December 2015. Later, in February 2018, he was stripped of The Ring Heavyweight title.
Tyson Fury suffered from suicidal thoughts and almost attempted suicide
In 2019, Fury opened up about what he went through mentally during 2016-2018 on The Rich Eisen Show. “Life’s hard,” he said. “Nothing’s ever going to hit you as hard as life will. And anyone who suffers from mental health problems, it is a silent killer. It kills more people every year than most other things.
Fury claimed that communication is extremely important. He stated that communication was a life-saver for him. “I do think the most important thing for anyone who suffers from mental health is communication,” Fury said. “Without communication with others, we’re not going to get better.”
During his appearance on Joe Rogan Experience in 2018, he explained that he used to dream of defeating Klitschko. After achieving that dream, he was clueless. “When you have a goal in mind from being a child – and you achieve it… I was lost, I didn’t know what to do.”
Fury opened up about the time he was driving at 160 miles/hour. He was certain that he wanted to commit suicide. However, he started to think about his family and immediately had a change of mind.
“I was in it on the highway and at the bottom, I got the car up to 190mph and heading towards a bridge, I didn’t care about nothing, I just wanted to die so bad, I gave up on life but as I was heading to the bridge I heard a voice saying, ‘no don’t do this Tyson; think about your kids, your family, your sons, and daughter growing up without a dad.”
He said that after such thoughts, he pulled over. He was shaking but he called his father and went on to seek help from medical professionals. Fury promised himself to never think about taking his own life again.
Tyson Fury claimed that he overcame mental health issues through his faith in God
On the same episode of JRE, Fury also claimed that his faith in God helped him overcome his disastrous situation. He said, “And the biggest thing we’re missing here is I didn’t I didn’t do it with doctors and all them type of things… My faith and belief that God would make me better made me better. I’m like somebody who don’t have any faith will think, oh, this is nonsense or whatever, but I’m living proof.”
Fury made a comeback to boxing in June 2018. He fought and defeated Sefer Seferi in his hometown of Manchester. He went on to reclaim the WBC and The Ring Heavyweight titles.