Deion Sanders Recalls His Suicide Attempt Of Driving His Car Off The Road After Divorce: 'I Went Through A Phase'
Deion Sanders appeared on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson's "All the Smoke" podcast where he discussed many topics, including Black men's mental wellness.
Co-host Jackson, 46, asked the two-time Super Bowl winner if he "ever dealt with mental health?"
"Yeah, shoot, I was on the side of the highway trying to kill myself. Trying to off me. You darn right I did," the college head football coach answered. "I went through a phase. God was calling me collect, but I didn't want to accept the charges."
Sanders, 56, continued: "I was playing baseball at the time, man, and going through my first divorce, so now your kids are taken from you, and you know, that's the only thing you feel like loves you, because ain't nothing else is real. The only thing that you feel like loves you came out your seed, so I'm like, 'Damn, the kids gone.' "
The Pro Football Hall of Famer went on to describe how his divorce in 1998 and the possibility of losing his children prompted him "going down the highway [in] Cincinnati, and I was playing Kirk Franklin's 'Conqueror' — ironic."
"I'm 'bout to off myself, and I'm playing 'Conqueror.' 'What kind of conqueror are you, punk? You sitting up there looking in the rearview looking in the side view and you sitting up there trying to off yourself."
The former Dallas Cowboys star recalled how he tried driving his car 30-40 feet off a cliff.
"I ran my car up the highway, dawg, and I got to the end ... and I was still here," Sanders, affectionately called Coach Prime, said. "And I remember the police came down and they knocked on my window. They said, 'You alright?' I said, 'Yeah,' They said, 'Somebody ran you off the road?' I said, 'No,' and my attorney at the time, Eugene Parker, who's passed now, he said, 'Look, either I'm gonna get you some help, or we're going to have to step away from the game and get yourself together some type of way because this is real.'"
Although he did not suffer any significant injuries, it was an eye-opening moment that led to a spiritual journey.
He remembered meeting with "Pastor David Forbes from Columbus, Ohio. I made the drive to him and he made the drive to me, and I started spiritual consultation."
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Sanders, who appeared on the podcast with his son Shedeur Sanders, released his book, "Elevate and Dominate," in March where he remembered how he "wanted it to be the end."
"But through the grace of God, it was the beginning," he wrote. "The beginning of something GLORIOUS."
Deion Sanders divorced his first wife Carolyn Chambers in 1998 due to "unresolved issues" after marrying in 1989. They are parents to Deiondra Sanders and Deion Sanders Jr.
He married Pilar Sanders in 1999. He fathered three more children; Shelomi, Shedeur, and Shilo.
