Kendra Wilkinson, ex-wife of former NFL player Hank Baskett and former reality TV star, opened up about her own struggles with mental health in a new interview with People.
This is the first time Wilkinson has spoken publicly about the incident since she was hospitalized in September after suffering a panic attack.
“I was dying of depression,” Wilkinson said of the September incident. In a moving interview. “I was nearing the end of my life and became mentally ill. I felt like I didn't have the strength to live anymore.”
Since then, Wilkinson has started working on her mental health and dealing with the damage caused during her time at the Playboy Mansion.
Wilkinson became famous at the age of 18 and was one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends on the E! show. He is on the reality show “Girls Next Door.''
The former reality star said it was difficult for her to look back on her life in her 20s and “I had to face my demons.”
“Playboy really messed up my life,” Wilkinson said. Wilkinson returned to the hospital a week after the September 6 visit and was given antipsychotic medication.
Wilkinson began three-times-a-week outpatient treatment at UCLA and began facing unresolved issues from her time dating Hefner and her very public and painful divorce from Baskett in 2019.
The 38-year-old spoke of the bleak situation that led her to finally ask Baskett to take her to the hospital for help.
Ms Wilkinson said it was the “worst place I've ever been in my life” and that she felt there was “no future” for her.
“It was very scary to go through that,” said Wilkinson, who has son Hank IV, 14, and daughter Aliyah Mary, 9, with Baskett. “I wasn't focusing on myself or my mental health. Here I am, a single mom, and I've been alone for years now. But like the world is bowing down to you… It's easy to feel, too. I was trying to fight alone. I was trying to heal myself, but you can't do it. I was isolated, hiding, blaming myself, blaming the world. . I felt out of control and not strong enough to survive.”
She called the day Ms Wilkinson sought help from Mr Baskett, whom she divorced in 2018, a “big day” for herself and her family.
“Accepting help that day and having Hank drive me to the hospital was a big day in both of our lives,” she said. “It was a big day for my family and my kids. I didn't realize how much I was suffering and how people looked at me until I got there. I really looked in the mirror and said, 'Help. I had to think, 'I need that.'
Wilkinson told People that she is in a better place and said on the day of the interview that she “felt like myself again for the first time in a while.”
But she also admitted there are challenges ahead as he continues to work on her mental health.
“Depression doesn’t just go away,” she said. “It's something that stays with you throughout your life. You just have to learn to deal with it and accept it. And it's a part of me. What therapy has done for me is that this It built me a tool system. So now I have strength and I have the strength and foundation I need to overcome depression.”
Wilkinson and Baskett were married for 10 years before divorcing in 2018.
Baskett spent five seasons in the NFL, playing for the Eagles, Colts, and Vikings.
He played in 67 games in the NFL and had 77 catches for 1,098 yards and six touchdowns.
