Graham Thorpe’s wife Amanda has revealed the former England batter took his own life due to depression and anxiety.
The England and Wales Cricket Board announced on 5 August that Thorpe had died at the age of 55 and tributes flooded in for one of the nation’s best Test players. Thorpe had been a mainstay in the England set-up for the majority of his life, first as a player between 1993 and 2005, before he spent 12 years in various coaching roles, but was hospitalised in May of 2022 and declared “seriously ill” at the time.
Amanda Thorpe has now revealed in an interview with the Times that Thorpe attempted to take his own life two years ago before doing so 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,” she said. “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.
“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. 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.”
Thorpe’s daughter Kitty explained the reason behind the family being ready to share news of his issues with mental health. She added: “We are not ashamed of talking about it. There is nothing to hide and it is not a stigma.
“We were trying to help him get better before and trying to protect him, which is why we said nothing. This is the time now to share the news, however horrible it is. We’ve wanted to be able to talk and share and we’d now like to raise awareness, too.”