Toronto Raptors DeMar DeRozan opens up about battling depression

[pwaldo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...epression.html

After recently alluding to depression in a cryptic tweet during the NBA's All-Star break, Toronto Raptors superstar DeMar DeRozan spoke at length about his issues with the affliction.

'It's one of them things that no matter how indestructible we look like we are, we're all human at the end of the day,' the 28-year-old DeRozan told The Toronto Star. 'We all got feelings . . . all of that. Sometimes . . . it gets the best of you, where times everything in the whole world's on top of you.'

A former high school phenom and star at USC, DeRozan is admittedly quiet, but he wanted to open up about his issues with depression because he hopes to fight the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

'It's not nothing I'm against or ashamed of,' he said. 'Now, at my age, I understand how many people go through it. Even if it's just somebody can look at it like, "He goes through it and he's still out there being successful and doing this," I'm OK with that.'

'My mom always told me: Never make fun of anybody because you never know what that person is going through,' he continued. 'Ever since I was a kid, I never did. I never did. I don't care what shape, form, ethnicity, nothing. I treat everybody the same. You never know.

'I had friends that I thought was perfectly fine, next thing you know they're a drug addict and can't remember yesterday… I never had a drink in my life because I grew up seeing so many people drinking their life away to suppress the [troubles] they were going through, you know what I mean?'

[WilyWestbrook0]

He has always struck me as a rather quiet and sensitive sort. Hope he finds the support he needs.

[doniceage]

I hope he can use his star power to shed some light on this serious issue.

Don