“I lied for a long time because society was not ready to listen to what I had to say.”

A former attacker France and current selector His country’s Under-21, Thierry HenrySaid he suffered from depression during and after his time as a soccer player, a problem he had since childhood that resurfaced while training in Canada during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I’ve been lying for a long time because society wasn’t ready to listen to what I had to say,” the 1998 world champion, now 46, said in an English-language interview with the podcast.diary No a CEO”, published this Monday.

The top scorer in English Arsenal’s history claims the problem came with him during his glittering years at the stadium, not fully aware of it.

“Throughout my career, and since birth, I’ve had depression,” Henry said. “Did I know? No. Did I do anything to remedy it? No. But I adopted a certain way of life,” he said.

In life “you have to put one foot forward and then the other, and walk. They told me from a young age,” he explains. “I never stopped walking” except during the Covid-19 pandemic, where “I just couldn’t take it anymore,” which led him to “understand what was going on.” “.

Henry He retired as a player in 2014. He was in Canada, away from his children, who were in Europe, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.

He was confined “for a year”, in the worst months of the health crisis Canadawhere he directed The Montreal effectFrom the North American Championship.

Then he “started crying almost every day for no reason,” he says. “The tears came alone. because? I don’t know, but maybe they were there for a long time,” he answered to himself.

Henry He also hinted that this mental fragility may stem from his childhood and constant search for the approval of his father, who often criticized his performance on the field.

That paternal presence “helped the athlete to some extent,” but “it didn’t help the human that much,” he concluded.