Aaron Lennon has opened up to Jamie Carragher and Ian Wright on his mental health struggles towards the back end of his career.
Lennon retired from football in November 2022 at the age of 35, having played for the likes of Tottenham, England and Everton throughout his career.
His final days playing were spent with Burnley in his second stint at the club having initially played for the Clarets between 2018 and 2020 before leaving for a short stint 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 he was at Everton. Since, he has spoken about the incident having received care for a stress-related illness.
Now, the 37-year-old has opened up on the latest edition of The Overlap, detailing how he felt around the time of the incident.
Aaron Lennon has opened up on the mental health struggled he suffered when he was sectioned
The former winger spoke to the likes of Jamie Carragher and Jamie Carragher about the incident seven years ago
Lennon played for the likes of England and Tottenham before stints at the likes of Burnley and Everton
‘Seven years ago I was in a really, really bad place,’ he began. ‘Like, severe depression.
‘It probably started before that, but I actually at the time didn’t know what was going on. Just waking up each day, not realising why I am feeling this way, energy is low, not really wanted to join in with the lads in training.
‘I was one of them, quite the old school personality, keep myself to myself. I used to try and look after everyone else. There was never a time where I thought, should I go and ask, tell the doc, “I’m not feeling alright here?”
‘So I tried to just brush it aside, and I was getting worse and worse. You get to a stage where you can’t even get out of bed, not want to be around people, 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 go in like, “Yes lads”, do my training and get off. But then I’d go home and literally just get back in bed, and I did that for a long period of time.’
Lennon did not play for Everton for a number of months around the time of the incident, with police saying that ‘officers attended and a 30-year-old man was detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act and was 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 the time I thought it would pass. I’m not sleeping. I’m not enjoying football, I’m not enjoying off the pitch, not even a night out or whatever with the lads anymore.
‘I didn’t want to put it on anyone else. I didn’t want to ring my dad, my family. I was like, “Nah, I’ll sort this”. It got to the stage, suicidal thoughts, so eventually I got assessed and I was sectioned. I was literally put in hospital.
‘I still wouldn’t have gone in. And that’s why I tell people to this day that if I didn’t get sectioned, I probably wouldn’t be here having this conversation.
He explained how he struggled to get out of bed and started not to enjoy football or socialising
Lennon made a total of 607 club appearances throughout his career and also earned 21 caps for England
Lennon went onto play for both Burnley and Kayserispor after his recovery from the illness.
He eventually retired nearly two years ago, having made a total of 607 appearances in his club career, as well as 21 for the England senior side