Last night, a documentary regarding Rio Ferdinand and his family's struggles since the death of his wife aired.
The candid BBC programme, Being Mum and Dad, showed how he struggled to cope after being left as a lone parent to Lorenz, 10, Tate, eight, and Tia, five, after Rebecca lost her battle with breast cancer in May 2015.
In the show, former England international Rio says: "You realise playing football was a fucking walk in the park compared to telling your kids their mum isn't coming back. I've never had to do something so hard, so emotionally draining and testing.
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"At the time you think, 'I'm coping'. You're sitting there, the kids are in bed, you can't sleep, but you don't want to think about anything. That's when the problems start. I never understood suicide.
"Then you sit there and you can understand how people get that low. It's a lonely, dark place. I can easily see why you just slip over that edge."
Credit: Twitter
However, he explained that at the beginning he did start to have suicidal thoughts, but his kids helped him through it.
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He said: "I don't like sitting in my house for days, you start going crazy. I would read papers, and see people who commit suicide and wonder how.
"But there were times at beginning, you kinda know how they feel. But when I look at my three kids, I couldn't do that to them.
"I'm not saying I've thought about it, but you sink into this place, and I'm lucky with the people I have around me - family and friends."
He explained that he's not ready to take off his wedding ring yet and that he'd attended an all-male bereavement group in his struggle to cope.
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Credit: BBC One
Viewers took to Twitter in their droves to send supportive messages to the former Manchester United defender.
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Fair play to the bloke.
Featured Image Credit: BBC One / Being Mum and DadTopics: BBC One, Twitter, Documentary
