“I almost killed myself.” The former Arsenal star tells his experience with depression

The FA Cup third round matches begin Saturday, one minute late, as part of a mental health awareness campaign.

This initiative opened the door for former England and Arsenal club Paul Merson to talk about his experience with depression.

Merson wrote in his column in the Daily Star newspaper aspects of his psychological suffering, and said that at this time last year he was thinking about ending his life and committing suicide.

Meyerson played 21 games for England, scoring 78 goals in 327 games for Arsenal between 1985 and 1997.

Meyerson fell into the alcohol addiction trap, and paid a heavy price for his involvement in gambling mazes.

The former player tried to recover from these problems, but he did not succeed despite obtaining help from specialized institutions.

But his life has changed since the beginning of last year after the incident of thinking about suicide, and he said in his column, "I remember how everything looked black, but thank God the feeling differed now. Last year I thought about killing myself, and now I do not have such thoughts."

He said that he was able to overcome his suffering after choosing to confront and accept his condition and talk openly about it instead of escaping to addiction and its consequences.

Myerson, 51, said he chose to talk about his experience because he hoped to help those in a situation similar to what he experienced.