He’d just won the political victory of his life — but Sen. John Fetterman says depression helped him convince himself he had lost.
“I had stopped leaving my bed. I had stopped eating. I was dropping weight,” the Pennsylvania Democrat told CBS Sunday Morning interviewer Jane Pauley.
“I had stopped engaging (in) some of the things that I love in my life,” Fetterman added.
It was a “downward spiral” that led Fetterman, 53, to check himself in to Washington’s Walter Reed Medical Center for treatment in February.
The full interview CBS was to air Sunday morning was Fetterman’s first time speaking out since he was released from the hospital last week.
“It’s like you just won the biggest race in the country. And the whole thing about depression is that objectively, you may have won. But depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost,” Fetterman says in the video.
“And that’s exactly what happened,” the first-term senator said. “And that was the start of a downward spiral.”
The Senator has dealt with depression “on and off” throughout his life, his chief of staff stated previously.
He’s now expected to return to the Senate on April 17 after it returns from recess.
Fetterman won last year by defeating Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz with 51% of the vote.
Fetterman suffered a near-fatal stroke in May 2022, but recovered to win the Democratic primary and then the general election.
--------
