Eagles Veteran ‘Was Living in Hell for a Long Time’

In an interview with Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer that aired Sunday, Eagles veteran Lane Johnson spoke for the first time about his anxiety and depression, and the effects they  have had on him.

Feeling the “beast,” as Johnson called the twin disorders, on his shoulders when he went to sleep, and still there when he woke in the morning. There’s also daily nausea and vomiting, to the point Johnson was throwing up blood.

Hoping that success would make it all go way didn’t work, it only made things worse.

“I was living in hell for a long time,” Johnson said.

"Vulnerability like that is true strength." 💪

In addition to @JayGlazer's powerful sit-down with @LaneJohnson65, the FOX NFL SUNDAY team shared an open and honest dialogue around the importance of #MentalHealth and the need to continue furthering the conversation. pic.twitter.com/p77YstXDkV

— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) October 31, 2021

“People fear judgment. I’m scared of judgment,” he said. “You look at guys when they get done after a game, what’s the first thing they do, go on Twitter and search their name. And that’s me. I’m talking to myself. That’s the world that you kind of need to escape. You need to get out of there and stop having a purpose and a why. I guess I didn’t know my why for a while.

“It took a lot of time to focus on myself to get the help I needed and to get into a good mindset again.”

People on Twitter and Instagram showed Lane some support, including Bears pass rusher Khalil Mack, Rams lineman Andrew Whitworth and other football players.

The stigma of mental health gets wiped away when more and more come forward.

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