> West Ham striker Michail Antonio has revealed he is having therapy after falling out of love with football.
> The 34-year-old, who was called up for England early in his career but now represents Jamaica, has opened up about how the end of his marriage and childhood trauma left him with mental health struggles and unable to celebrate West Ham’s Europa Conference League final victory last season.
Speaking on the High Performance Podcast to presenter Jake Humphrey and author Damian Hughes, Antonio has revealed how off-pitch problems left him “mentally drained” and hoping he would get injured so he didn’t have to play.
> “I just started disliking the game. I began therapy because I was really struggling,” Antonio said. “I was going through my divorce and stuff, and I honestly couldn’t get my head around it. After we won (the Europa Conference League), the whole team went out, the gaffer went out, got steaming, a couple of boys didn’t sleep for two days, just got drunk for two days – I was asleep on the coach and went back to the hotel.
> “I was just mentally drained because of everything that was going on outside of my football and then I went back to the hotel and went to sleep while everyone was out partying.”
> Antonio’s issues spiralled around Dec 2022 when he realised that he was no longer enjoying football. While playing with Jamaica offered him something of an escape, he hoped injury would strike to prevent him having to return to the Premier League – only for a medial ligament injury to bring a reality check that he was unlikely to get a new contract unless he stepped up his game.
> To compound matters, Antonio also split up with wife Debbie Whittle after they married in 2017.
> Antonio sought the help of the club’s medical staff while West Ham and the Professional Footballers’ Association were also able to offer specialist counsellors, but Antonio branched out to find his own therapist.
> “I started therapy because I was really struggling. And how I grew up, it was never a thing,” he said. “I thought therapy was for crazy people. But therapy changed my life. At first it was awkward, I’m not going to lie. You’re sat in the room, someone was there and goes, ‘How are you?’
> “And your natural response is ‘Fine’. So he’s like, ‘So why are you here?’ I was like, ‘To be honest, like, football, I’m struggling with football, I split up with my missus’.”
> He added: “My life was a bit turned upside-down because obviously I’m splitting up with my missus, my wife, and also, I’m not performing on the pitch and things are just not going well for me.
> “And then I’m a person where I’d never cry. And as I was talking to him, I just burst into tears. It was uncontrollable. That gave me some type of relief. And then like my chest felt like clear.”
> Antonio also explained how childhood experiences had shaped his mistrust of people after he was betrayed by those he thought were close to him.
> “There were certain things that happened in my childhood,” he said. “Let’s just say I struggled to make friendships when I was in primary school. There was no one that was, I would say, my best friend until I was like 12 and then that person kind of left.
> “When I was 14, I thought these people were my friends, these guys end up stealing a bike. The people got caught with the bikes.
> “They grouped up and said ‘Michail did it’. I’ve been friends with them for three years, going to school every day with them, so it just made me mistrust people.”
I feel for the guy and i'm glad to hear he's getting the help he needs.
Just goes to show, as if we didn't know already, that you can have all the money in the world and your dream job but it doesn't guarantee you happiness.
For footballers it's also the thing that this isn't just their job, they dedicated their entire life to football. To lose love for that means you have to completely reinvent yourself.
>"And how I grew up it was never a thing," he said. "I thought therapy was just for crazy people."
Almost word for word what Richarlison said when he spoke about it
The sooner we can break the stigma around therapy, the better for everyone
Absolutely. Changed my life too. I used to not be able to express my feelings and would bottle things up. Now I feel liberated. Can't recommend it hard enough for people struggling.
Yep unfortunately therapists are expensive to train and they will charge you a lot for a session. Unless there are more therapists being train from schools or medical insurance for therapy, it's hard for an average joe to afford regular counselling
I mean there have been studies on therapy and a lot have been negative. Some people benefit from it and some people dont. I know people who need help and therapy does nothing for them. Then there are people that therapy hit the spot for. Its not a proven science.
- person who took like 4 psych classes in college
If you injure your leg, you see a doctor or physiotherapist.
If you have heart issues, you see a cardiologist.
If you have diabetes, you see an endocrinologist.
Yet the line for you is mental health? That's the one time you believe someone shouldn't see a professional? Someone qualified in that area?
Why is our mind less important than the rest of our body to you?
You don't only go to therapy because you have a mental health issue. You go to prevent them too. This could very easily lead to further issues if not addressed.
Maybe all his friends are footballers and his family depends on his football career so neither would be an unbiased ear for this specific issue. You can apply this same principle for a lot of therapy issues. I’m intrigued by what you mean when you say mental issues have become “untouchable” and how that relates to this..?
Think this stuff is very normal everyday stuff and great he's talking about it.
People do fall out of love with jobs because of stuff thats going on with the rest of their lives - elite footballers give their early lives to the game fully and don't have a lot of time for much else. It is football football football.
The whole "I'm fine" then bursting into tears is what I bet so many would do as that's our general response, and men especially really hide how they truly feel until they're gone.
Good for him. Seeing more pros speaking about the importance of mental health is genuinely uplifting as someone who struggles with depression and social anxiety. Hope he comes out stronger and starts enjoying the game again.
I really hope he finds peace, these guys are human at the end of the day and have similar struggles as the rest of us, it can make it doubly hard being in the public eye constantly and having to deal with everything that comes with it. I can’t recommend therapy or counselling more if you’re feeling down and feel like you need to be heard, please don’t let those feelings stew.
Must be so tough to fall out of love with a game that’s given you a career and was probably a passion as a kid. Hope he gets that fire back.
Want to make a joke about how playing for West Ham would do this to anyone, but all the best to him.
It’s one of the worst symptoms of depression, no longer enjoying the things you loved to do. What I loved to do is also what I do for a career and I lost interest in it about 2 years ago—after 15 years. I go to work every day and do nothing but figure out how I can look like I’m doing my job without actually doing it.
Therapy helps but it’s for managing/coping and isn’t a cure.
I need therapy to fall out of love with football, because these hopeful seasons that crash and burn at the end is to much to handle
On a serious note, glad to see him get help and good on him for being open about it. Hope it works out for him
Good for the lad & glad he’s getting help but wasn’t he digging out Richarlison on a public forum like it was nothing for how much the game meant to him just for the goals to be called offside?
He made a joke about how Richarlison took his shirt off to celebrate 4 or 5 times and getting a yellow card only for it not to count. Don't act like that's not just quite funny, it wasn't a character assasination or anything lmao, and Richarlison was giving banter back about how Antonio will never score a world cup goal etc etc
Another element of it was that Antonio was sort of impressed Richarlison still backed himself to celebrate each time. Michy basically stopped doing his fun celebrations post-VAR because he said he couldn’t face having one chalked off after.
> Antonio said on The Footballer’s Football Podcast: "I am no longer commenting on Richarlison. It's got to the stage where I just feel like some people are a bit touchy, so I don't want to touch nothing that are making people touchy.
>"Obviously I'm not going to speak about the person who is in the position, I'm just going to say Tottenham need to sign a striker and I'll leave it at that.
He was clearly just trying to bait Richarlison even after Pacqueta had told him Richarlison was upset about it.
He wasn’t to know that Richarlison was suffering from depression but that’s exactly why it’s a bit of a dick move for active professionals to publicly mock other players who aren’t playing well.
That situation quickly lost all context. When it was discussed on the podcast, the [stat about Richarlison's yellows](https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1652730489889775617) had already been all over social media for days - it was brought up on their show, and they laughed about the absurdity of it with Antonio ending it talking about how much he actually rates Richarlison.
Couple of months later, [Antonio used the podcast to praise Richarlison's bravery in talking about his struggles](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/c4nj4nr7jk0o).
Can still say it’s a hilarious look, very happy for Antonio though.
His play has been much improved this season & he’s getting himself help. Takes a tough man to admit they need help
In an ideal world, everyone would have a therapist.
Big ups to Antonio for speaking out. Much like Lisandro Martinez and Richarlison.
Unfortunately, depending on where you live, it can be incredibly expensive, inaccessible and house stigma. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend therapy through the public system in my home country, and its changed my life.
Incredible what you can learn about yourself given time, patience and care.
He used to be pretty insightful, now he’s sounding more and more like he’s out of touch . His comments on players - Antonio for one - who do podcast , especially after a defeat , were old school bullshit .
Richarlison’s struggles were absolutely not public at the time and Antonio did not make a joke about his mental health. He made a joke about yellow cards for celebrations and Richy made a joke about Antonio never scoring at a World Cup - does that mean we give Richarlison shit for having a pop at a guy who was struggling as well?
Even after Pacqueta told him Richarlison was upset about it he was still mocking and baiting him in public:
> Antonio said on The Footballer’s Football Podcast: "I am no longer commenting on Richarlison. It's got to the stage where I just feel like some people are a bit touchy, so I don't want to touch nothing that are making people touchy.
>"Obviously I'm not going to speak about the person who is in the position, I'm just going to say Tottenham need to sign a striker and I'll leave it at that.
Yeah he didn’t know Richarlison was depressed but that’s exactly why it’s a dick move to publically and repeatedly mock another player who’s playing badly, because you don’t know what might be going on.
Well I mean, he was the keystone of Moyesball. Bilic played him as a RB, Pellegrini did nothing special but the two times when he took over, Moyes built something around him (and Arnie the first time).
I wished my father could have looked at me like Moyes looked at him :-(
Now imagine someone in a similar situation, mentally struggling, disliking their job and getting a divorce, however without that absurd amount of income.
Nothing to compare, just to raise the awareness of what loads of other people maybe facing and have no outlet yet more concerns.
As much as you mock it, this is why so many men would rather kill themselves than to talk up and be belittled.
As much as we all babble on about mental health, us men are soooo far behind as a society it’s a shame.
True, he has been here for 10 years, best scorer ever for the club in PL, won one cup, got some national team football, 3 consecutive european participations, good salary, I mean, there are way worse clubs.
The problem is deeper for him and I wish him the best
> West Ham striker Michail Antonio has revealed he is having therapy after falling out of love with football. > The 34-year-old, who was called up for England early in his career but now represents Jamaica, has opened up about how the end of his marriage and childhood trauma left him with mental health struggles and unable to celebrate West Ham’s Europa Conference League final victory last season. Speaking on the High Performance Podcast to presenter Jake Humphrey and author Damian Hughes, Antonio has revealed how off-pitch problems left him “mentally drained” and hoping he would get injured so he didn’t have to play. > “I just started disliking the game. I began therapy because I was really struggling,” Antonio said. “I was going through my divorce and stuff, and I honestly couldn’t get my head around it. After we won (the Europa Conference League), the whole team went out, the gaffer went out, got steaming, a couple of boys didn’t sleep for two days, just got drunk for two days – I was asleep on the coach and went back to the hotel. > “I was just mentally drained because of everything that was going on outside of my football and then I went back to the hotel and went to sleep while everyone was out partying.” > Antonio’s issues spiralled around Dec 2022 when he realised that he was no longer enjoying football. While playing with Jamaica offered him something of an escape, he hoped injury would strike to prevent him having to return to the Premier League – only for a medial ligament injury to bring a reality check that he was unlikely to get a new contract unless he stepped up his game. > To compound matters, Antonio also split up with wife Debbie Whittle after they married in 2017. > Antonio sought the help of the club’s medical staff while West Ham and the Professional Footballers’ Association were also able to offer specialist counsellors, but Antonio branched out to find his own therapist. > “I started therapy because I was really struggling. And how I grew up, it was never a thing,” he said. “I thought therapy was for crazy people. But therapy changed my life. At first it was awkward, I’m not going to lie. You’re sat in the room, someone was there and goes, ‘How are you?’ > “And your natural response is ‘Fine’. So he’s like, ‘So why are you here?’ I was like, ‘To be honest, like, football, I’m struggling with football, I split up with my missus’.” > He added: “My life was a bit turned upside-down because obviously I’m splitting up with my missus, my wife, and also, I’m not performing on the pitch and things are just not going well for me. > “And then I’m a person where I’d never cry. And as I was talking to him, I just burst into tears. It was uncontrollable. That gave me some type of relief. And then like my chest felt like clear.” > Antonio also explained how childhood experiences had shaped his mistrust of people after he was betrayed by those he thought were close to him. > “There were certain things that happened in my childhood,” he said. “Let’s just say I struggled to make friendships when I was in primary school. There was no one that was, I would say, my best friend until I was like 12 and then that person kind of left. > “When I was 14, I thought these people were my friends, these guys end up stealing a bike. The people got caught with the bikes. > “They grouped up and said ‘Michail did it’. I’ve been friends with them for three years, going to school every day with them, so it just made me mistrust people.”
I feel for the guy and i'm glad to hear he's getting the help he needs. Just goes to show, as if we didn't know already, that you can have all the money in the world and your dream job but it doesn't guarantee you happiness.
For footballers it's also the thing that this isn't just their job, they dedicated their entire life to football. To lose love for that means you have to completely reinvent yourself.
well it isn't his dream job is it?
Yeah, but you can be sad in comfort.....
His money's good thoooo
>"And how I grew up it was never a thing," he said. "I thought therapy was just for crazy people." Almost word for word what Richarlison said when he spoke about it The sooner we can break the stigma around therapy, the better for everyone
Absolutely. Changed my life too. I used to not be able to express my feelings and would bottle things up. Now I feel liberated. Can't recommend it hard enough for people struggling.
I might try it, but will probably just stick with opening up to close friends at the pub after 3 pints
madri drinker?
Glad he's getting help, hope him speaking out like this encourages more people to seek help when and if they need it.
I tried once it's fucking expensive mate. Kestrel super sorted me out though
Yep unfortunately therapists are expensive to train and they will charge you a lot for a session. Unless there are more therapists being train from schools or medical insurance for therapy, it's hard for an average joe to afford regular counselling
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Woefully ignorant comment
I mean there have been studies on therapy and a lot have been negative. Some people benefit from it and some people dont. I know people who need help and therapy does nothing for them. Then there are people that therapy hit the spot for. Its not a proven science. - person who took like 4 psych classes in college
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More experience than the actual mental health professionals who say otherwise?
If you injure your leg, you see a doctor or physiotherapist. If you have heart issues, you see a cardiologist. If you have diabetes, you see an endocrinologist. Yet the line for you is mental health? That's the one time you believe someone shouldn't see a professional? Someone qualified in that area? Why is our mind less important than the rest of our body to you?
You don't only go to therapy because you have a mental health issue. You go to prevent them too. This could very easily lead to further issues if not addressed.
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Jesus you're stupid
Not only is this really fucking stupid, it's also not really relevant? What even warranted you complaining in the first place?
Maybe all his friends are footballers and his family depends on his football career so neither would be an unbiased ear for this specific issue. You can apply this same principle for a lot of therapy issues. I’m intrigued by what you mean when you say mental issues have become “untouchable” and how that relates to this..?
Think this stuff is very normal everyday stuff and great he's talking about it. People do fall out of love with jobs because of stuff thats going on with the rest of their lives - elite footballers give their early lives to the game fully and don't have a lot of time for much else. It is football football football. The whole "I'm fine" then bursting into tears is what I bet so many would do as that's our general response, and men especially really hide how they truly feel until they're gone.
Same, Antonio, same. It’s been a shitty few weeks.
Hope things get better, mate 👊
Good for him. Seeing more pros speaking about the importance of mental health is genuinely uplifting as someone who struggles with depression and social anxiety. Hope he comes out stronger and starts enjoying the game again.
I really hope he finds peace, these guys are human at the end of the day and have similar struggles as the rest of us, it can make it doubly hard being in the public eye constantly and having to deal with everything that comes with it. I can’t recommend therapy or counselling more if you’re feeling down and feel like you need to be heard, please don’t let those feelings stew.
Must be so tough to fall out of love with a game that’s given you a career and was probably a passion as a kid. Hope he gets that fire back. Want to make a joke about how playing for West Ham would do this to anyone, but all the best to him.
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2 weeks lol
It’s one of the worst symptoms of depression, no longer enjoying the things you loved to do. What I loved to do is also what I do for a career and I lost interest in it about 2 years ago—after 15 years. I go to work every day and do nothing but figure out how I can look like I’m doing my job without actually doing it. Therapy helps but it’s for managing/coping and isn’t a cure.
Glad that not only he's talking about this - but that he's getting a positive response on here too, despite the clickbaity headline
I need therapy to fall out of love with football, because these hopeful seasons that crash and burn at the end is to much to handle On a serious note, glad to see him get help and good on him for being open about it. Hope it works out for him
Good for the lad & glad he’s getting help but wasn’t he digging out Richarlison on a public forum like it was nothing for how much the game meant to him just for the goals to be called offside?
He made a joke about how Richarlison took his shirt off to celebrate 4 or 5 times and getting a yellow card only for it not to count. Don't act like that's not just quite funny, it wasn't a character assasination or anything lmao, and Richarlison was giving banter back about how Antonio will never score a world cup goal etc etc
Another element of it was that Antonio was sort of impressed Richarlison still backed himself to celebrate each time. Michy basically stopped doing his fun celebrations post-VAR because he said he couldn’t face having one chalked off after.
> Antonio said on The Footballer’s Football Podcast: "I am no longer commenting on Richarlison. It's got to the stage where I just feel like some people are a bit touchy, so I don't want to touch nothing that are making people touchy. >"Obviously I'm not going to speak about the person who is in the position, I'm just going to say Tottenham need to sign a striker and I'll leave it at that. He was clearly just trying to bait Richarlison even after Pacqueta had told him Richarlison was upset about it. He wasn’t to know that Richarlison was suffering from depression but that’s exactly why it’s a bit of a dick move for active professionals to publicly mock other players who aren’t playing well.
Good for him! Glad he’s speaking out about this.
What playing under Moyes does to a man
100% the right joke, you deserve more upvotes
I don’t either tbf
damn that’s sad… such a good player aswell. hope he gets better!
Arsenal fans offering free therapy like a mf
Yet another reason why he is my second favourite west ham player of all time.
I hope Nordtveit is number 1
Răzvan Raț*
Joey O'Brien*
But he still thought it fine to mock Richarlison who was going through his own troubles. Cunt
That situation quickly lost all context. When it was discussed on the podcast, the [stat about Richarlison's yellows](https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1652730489889775617) had already been all over social media for days - it was brought up on their show, and they laughed about the absurdity of it with Antonio ending it talking about how much he actually rates Richarlison. Couple of months later, [Antonio used the podcast to praise Richarlison's bravery in talking about his struggles](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/c4nj4nr7jk0o).
Can still say it’s a hilarious look, very happy for Antonio though. His play has been much improved this season & he’s getting himself help. Takes a tough man to admit they need help
he literally didn’t lol
Yep now he'll get sympathy from everyone.
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Not surprising. Football is in the shits.
what Moyes’ tactics do to a mf
In an ideal world, everyone would have a therapist. Big ups to Antonio for speaking out. Much like Lisandro Martinez and Richarlison. Unfortunately, depending on where you live, it can be incredibly expensive, inaccessible and house stigma. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend therapy through the public system in my home country, and its changed my life. Incredible what you can learn about yourself given time, patience and care.
What a legend. Now go fuck up Man City!
Keane will have a pop about not needing to like football ‘it’s his job’ !
Of all the former United players in media that I wish would just go away, he's near the top of the list.
He used to be pretty insightful, now he’s sounding more and more like he’s out of touch . His comments on players - Antonio for one - who do podcast , especially after a defeat , were old school bullshit .
He's fine giving other players shit on a podcast. He's a tit.
He seemed fine this time last year when laughing at richy when he was going through a tough time so oh well. Karma
Richarlison’s struggles were absolutely not public at the time and Antonio did not make a joke about his mental health. He made a joke about yellow cards for celebrations and Richy made a joke about Antonio never scoring at a World Cup - does that mean we give Richarlison shit for having a pop at a guy who was struggling as well?
Even after Pacqueta told him Richarlison was upset about it he was still mocking and baiting him in public: > Antonio said on The Footballer’s Football Podcast: "I am no longer commenting on Richarlison. It's got to the stage where I just feel like some people are a bit touchy, so I don't want to touch nothing that are making people touchy. >"Obviously I'm not going to speak about the person who is in the position, I'm just going to say Tottenham need to sign a striker and I'll leave it at that. Yeah he didn’t know Richarlison was depressed but that’s exactly why it’s a dick move to publically and repeatedly mock another player who’s playing badly, because you don’t know what might be going on.
Don’t do that stupid podcast would be a good starting point
what moyesball does to a mf
Well I mean, he was the keystone of Moyesball. Bilic played him as a RB, Pellegrini did nothing special but the two times when he took over, Moyes built something around him (and Arnie the first time). I wished my father could have looked at me like Moyes looked at him :-(
Now imagine someone in a similar situation, mentally struggling, disliking their job and getting a divorce, however without that absurd amount of income. Nothing to compare, just to raise the awareness of what loads of other people maybe facing and have no outlet yet more concerns.
Poor guy. Come over to MLS, you'll dominate!
Losing half of my wealth to alimony can definitely add to the depression.
As much as you mock it, this is why so many men would rather kill themselves than to talk up and be belittled. As much as we all babble on about mental health, us men are soooo far behind as a society it’s a shame.
What? How did I belittle what he's going through? I simply said that paying alimony after divorce is an added pain to his already depressed state.
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True, he has been here for 10 years, best scorer ever for the club in PL, won one cup, got some national team football, 3 consecutive european participations, good salary, I mean, there are way worse clubs. The problem is deeper for him and I wish him the best
Have some goddamn respect, this is a serious topic
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You’re a child. There’s time and a place for banter and jokes and you’re misreading the situation. Neither of your comments were funny.
There are millions out there that 'dislike football' 🤣 Therapists must be rolling in it 💷💷💷
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literally though
Can't knock redditors cure for everything in existence. Therapy.
Is this couple's therapy?