AEW superstar Eddie Kingston recently spoke with Bleacher Report for Suicide Awareness month, where the Mad King covered a ton of different topics, including how he’s lost friends to suicide, the importance of having a support system, and how he picks himself up during his battles with depression. Highlights from the interview are below.
Says he has lost a couple of friends to suicide:
“I’ve lost a couple of friends to it. Myself, I didn’t attempt it. But I was extremely close to that breaking point, as I like to call it. It feels like the word ‘suicide’ has been around all my life, you know? It seems like it’s always been there. I don’t remember a day where that word wasn’t around.”
On the ripple affect of suicide:
“When I got to that point, you kind of just think maybe you hurt one person. Or maybe you hurt nobody when you get to that dark place, you think nobody cares. But at the end of the day, one person cares. That, at least, I know for a fact one person will care. And then once that person gets affected by what happened, another person will get affected, and another person will get affected, and another, and so on and so forth. Because it’s not just you that you’re hurting at the end of the day, it’s your friends and your family. Whether you think they are or not, they are there. And that’s what I want people to understand is that you may feel alone, but there’s always one person who will be hurt and will be affected by it. And all it takes is one person to be affected by losing you and then the next thing you know, they may get depressed, and they may get down now. And then they may do it to their significant other, and so on and so forth. So there’s always a ripple effect.”
How he deals with his depression:
“It took years for me to realize that I have a good support system around me. Because a lot of times I would shut it out that I had good people around me because I was at that point where I didn’t see any hope. So I just didn’t care or want to know that people cared or I had a good support system. But the one thing I did learn is that I do have a good support system and to call them and to lean on them. And there’s nothing wrong with leaning on other people, especially when they’re good human beings who are there for you. And you’re there for them. You know, vice versa, I learned that and I also learned to breathe through situations, which is very hard. Because when you’re in the moment, especially when you’re down and out or when you’re angry, it’s very hard to sit back and breathe and let your mind slow down. Because once you get to that point, your mind is gonna play tricks on you. And it’s gonna be everywhere and you have to slow it down. That’s the one thing I learned the most was calming yourself. Calming your mind down.”