Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals he started snooker world championships ‘on phone to Samaritans’

Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals he was 'on phone to Samaritans' at snooker world championshipsSource: Amol Rajan Interviews, BBC

Transcript

00:00 You got your first world championship.

00:02 And at the start of that tournament,

00:04 you were on the phone to Samaritans.

00:06 Samaritans, yeah.

00:07 You can laugh about it now. What was going on?

00:09 I basically had nine months clean.

00:13 Might have been, yeah, about nine months clean.

00:15 I'd been in rehab the year before.

00:18 And they said, "Once you get clean,

00:21 "you realise why you took substances,

00:23 "because of the feelings that you brought to the world."

00:26 You can't numb it any more. Whereas before, I'd feel a bit dodgy.

00:30 I'd have a joint, drink, get plastered, and that was it.

00:34 Now you don't, so you kind of have to live with whatever was natural feelings.

00:39 I was just new to it all. I'd had six, seven years of having a blast.

00:44 So it was like trying to function in the world's normal.

00:49 So I found that quite difficult, to be honest with you.

00:52 What did you say to Samaritans?

00:54 I just said, "I'm really struggling."

00:56 I said, "I feel like I'm having anxiety and panic attacks."

01:00 That was when I first started having panic attacks.

01:02 I just said, "I'm really struggling."

01:04 That was when I first started having panic attacks.

01:06 [silence]