Not many of them have had the courage and strength to raise this subject. At the start of the year, invited to speak in an English-speaking podcast, Thierry Henry spoke like never before about the mental health problems he may have encountered during his life. “During confinement, I cried almost every day, for no reason. The tears came on their own. Maybe they had been there for a very long time. It was weird, but in a good way”he explained with great frankness.
A very strong testimony from the man who coached the French Espoirs and benefited from a very comfortable salary. This Wednesday 27, Thierry Henry gave an interview to GQ in which he looks back on his confessions, which helped to further free the taboo of mental health in sport. “When you see someone who is supposed to have no problems and who has been successful in their life talking to you with honesty and empathy about their difficulties, it can speak to you and help you put things into perspective. (…) If the podcast can help the youngest today, so much the better”he explains about his very notable intervention.
Thierry Henry went to consult a psychologist
The former teammate of Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps in the French team then talks about this very complicated period during which he was coach in Montreal when the Covid pandemic broke out. “I spent a year in Canada, far from my familyand I began to analyze who I was, to think about how I had grown up and what had shaped me.remembers the husband of Andrea Rajacic, with whom he had three children, Tristan (born in 2012), Tatiana (born in 2015) and Gabriel (born in 2016), before adding: “After returning to London, I had to return to Montreal. Everyone started to cry, and it's the first time that I saw people cry for Thierry and not for Thierry Henry. It slapped me in the face.”
Following this “slap” received, Thierry Henry will take the step of consulting a psychologist in order to “manage certain emotions“, as the Arsenal legend puts it. “During Covid, I was simply lost and I searched for myself. I had to be reminded or taught that these emotions are normal, that you must welcome them and not let them invade you. You can feel hate, but don't become hateful. Conversely, you can feel joy, but don't become too joyful either.”analyzes the one we saw with his beautiful Andrea to celebrate the wedding of Cesc Fabregas a few years ago.
A very strong message from Thierry Henry, who does not hesitate to talk about his mental health to advance the cause.
