Kendra Wilkinson, former reality star and ex-wife of NFLer, opens up on mental health battle
Kendra Wilkinson, ex-wife of former NFL player Hank Baskett and former reality TV star, opened up about her mental health issues in a new interview with People magazine.
It is the first time Wilkinson has spoken publicly since being hospitalized with a panic attack in September. “I died of depression,” Wilkinson said in an emotional interview about the incident in September. “I suffered from mental illness in the last moments of my life. “I felt that I had no strength to live.”
Since then, Wilkinson has worked on his mental health and come to terms with the damage caused by his time at the Playboy Mansion.
According to E!, Wilkinson rose to fame at the age of 18 and was one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends. “Girl Next Door” reality show.
The former reality star revealed that it was difficult to look back on her life in her 20s and that she “had to face my demons”.
Kendra Wilkinson talked about her journey in an interview with People.Getty Images.
“Playboy really ruined my life,” said Wilkinson, who returned to hospital a week after the attack in September. He returned six times and was prescribed antipsychotic medication.
Wilkinson began attending outpatient therapy three times a week at UCLA and dealt with unresolved issues from her time with Hefner and her very public and painful 2019 divorce from Baskett. The 38-year-old described her ordeal before asking Baskett to take her to the hospital to get help.
Wilkinson said it was “the lowest place I’ve ever been in my life” and that he felt there was “no future”.
Kendra Wilkinson talks about her mental health journey kendrawikinson/Instagram
“It was really scary going through that,” said Wilkinson, who has sons Hank IV, 14, and daughter Aaliyah Mary, 9, with Baskett. “I didn’t focus on myself or my mental health. As a single mother, I felt alone for many years. But it’s also easy to feel like the world is yours. I tried to manage on my own. I tried to treat it myself but it didn’t work. I isolated myself, hid, blamed myself and blamed the world. I felt out of control and powerless to survive.”
Wilkinson Baskett, who divorced in 2018, called the day she asked for help a “big day” for her and her family.
“Getting help that day and letting Hank drive me to the hospital was a big day in our lives,” she said. “Today was an important day for my family and children. Until I got there I didn’t realize how much I was suffering or what they saw of me. “I had to look in the mirror and say, ‘I need help.’
Wilkinson told People she’s in a good place and said on the day of the interview that “it’s been a long time since I’ve felt like myself again.”
But she acknowledged that many challenges will arise as she continues to work on her mental health.
He said: “Depression is a disease that does not go away. “This will stay with you for the rest of your life. You have to learn to work with it and accept it. And it’s a part of me. Therapy was building this system of tools for me. Now I have power. “I gained the strength and foundation to overcome depression.”
