John Wall is opening up about some challenges he recently faced in his life. In an interview with Donal Ware at the Salvation Army Charity event, the Los Angeles Clippers star talked about some of the life-changing events he has dealt with that led to him thinking about suicide.
“At one point in time I thought about committing suicide,” he said in the interview, per Entertainment Tonight. “Tearing my Achilles, my mom being sick, my mom passing, my grandma passing a year later, all this in the midst of COVID at the same time. “Me going to chemotherapy, sitting [with] my mom taking her last breaths wearing the same clothes for three days straight laying on the couch beside her.”
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Wall had surgery on his Achilles in January 2019. He suffered another Achilles injury shortly after the surgery and did not play the rest of the 2018-2019 season as well as the 2019-2020 season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The surgery also happened months before Wall’s mother, Frances Pulley, died after a battle with breast cancer. Additionally, Wall’s grandmother died in early 2020.
“My team, the mother of my kids have been great, my two boys, it’s my motivation for me,” Wall said of what pulled him out of the dark time. “Looking at all that I’m like, ‘If I can get through this I can get through anything in life.’ I don’t like to brag about [it] because everybody goes through something, we all went through tough times, nobody’s got it easy. But I don’t think a lot of people could get through what I went through. To me, to be back on top where I want to be and see the fans still wanting me to play, having support from my hometown, their support period means a lot in a time where I had to go find a therapist. A lot of people think, ‘I don’t need help, I can get through it anytime,’ but you gotta be true to yourself, find out what’s best for you, and I did that.”
Wall was selected No. 1 overall by the Washington Wizards in 2010. He was traded to the Houston Rockets in 2020 and reached a buyout with the team in June this year before signing a contract with the Clippers in July. In his career, Wall has been selected to the All-Star game five times, selected to the All-NBA Third Team in 2017 and won the Slam Dunk Contest in 2014.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.
