Former NFL All Pro and Defensive Player of the Year Deion Sanders has shared about the lowest point of his life, which also happened to be at the height of his success.
Sanders confessed on Paula Faris' Journeys of Faith podcast, that some of his darkest days were when he was riding high with his lavish lifestyle.
“Rock bottom for me was having hundreds of suits and not covering the pain. Rock bottom for me was having hundreds of pairs of shoes but couldn’t take a step in the right direction,” he said. “Rock bottom for me was having 10 cars and wasn’t going nowhere. Rock bottom for me was having a 14,000-square-foot house but never feeling at home.”
Sanders said that there were times he was unable to connect with those around him.
“Rock bottom for me was laying between two and three women at a time, but you get up unsatisfied…Laying right beside the person who said they love you, but she didn’t even know you was in pain. That was rock bottom for me,” he said.
He then explained how his NFL super star public persona prevented people from knowing the real him.
“I was crying out to people. But, they couldn’t hear you because they saw Prime. They saw my character. The character I created, not the character of a man. They saw the character I created — that was Prime,” he said.
His personal demons eventually led Sanders to attempt suicide in 1997 by driving his car off of a cliff and plunging 40 feet. Obviously he survived the near fatal moment, which forced him to re-evaluate his life. He gave his life to Christ following the attempt and that helped him evolve out of the darkness.
Now, Sanders has put the past behind him, he is living for Christ and is focused on his upcoming marriage to Tracey Edmonds.