LONDON: Graham Thorpe’s wife Amanda has revealed the former England cricketer took his own life after battling depression and anxiety for several years.

Aged just 55, Thorpe’s death in August plunged the cricket world into mourning for the popular star.

He enjoyed an impressive England career as an elegant batsman between 1993 and 2005, before spending 12 years in various coaching roles.

But Thorpe was hospitalised in May 2022 and declared “seriously ill”.

Amanda Thorpe has now revealed in an interview with The Times that the former Surrey player attempted suicide two years ago before taking his own life earlier this month.

“Despite having a wife and two daughters whom he loved and who loved him, he did not get better. He was so unwell in recent times and he really did believe that we would be better off without him and we are devastated that he acted on that and took his own life,” Amanda Thorpe told The Times.

“For the past couple of years, Graham had been suffering from major dep­ression and anxiety. This led him to make a serious attempt on his life in May 2022, which resulted in a prolonged stay in an intensive care unit.” The left-hander featured in 100 Test matches and 82 one-day internationals for Eng­land, scoring over 9,000 runs for his country, including 16 Test hundreds.

But he was unable to overcome his mental health battle despite the support of his family and doctors.

“Despite glimpses of hope and of the old Graham, he continued to suffer from depression and anxiety, which at times got very severe. We supported him as a family and he tried many, many treatments but unfortunately none of them really seemed to work,” Amanda Thorpe said.

“Graham was renowned as someone who was very mentally strong on the field and he was in good physical health. But mental illness is a real disease and can affect anyone.”

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2024