Former England cricketer Graham Thorpe, who passed away last week, took his own life after battling chronic depression and anxiety, his wife revealed in an interview.
The 55-year-old’s death on August 5 was announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board. Now, in an interview with former England captain and Thorpe’s teammate Michael Atherton, his wife Amanda said he battled depression long and hard before taking his own life.
"Despite having a wife and two daughters whom he loved and who loved him, he did not get better," she said. "He was so unwell in recent times and he really did believe that we would be better off without him. We are devastated that he acted on that and took his own life."
Amanda also said that Thorpe had tried to take his own life earlier, too.
"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."
Thorpe’s eldest daughter Kitty, 22, said there was nothing to hide, and that they were revealing it now to raise awareness. “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."
A veteran of 100 Tests, Thorpe was hailed as one of the greatest and grittiest English batters. With 6,744 runs at an average of 44.66 in Tests and close to 22,000 runs in his first-class career for Surrey, Thorpe was a thorn in the flesh of the opposition. His greatest knock, arguably, was the unbeaten match-winning knock of 200 against New Zealand in the 2002 Christchurch Test.
Thorpe retired from ODIs in 2002 due to family problems and took an indefinite break from the game. He, however, returned to Test cricket with a bang the next year, scoring a century to help England draw level against South Africa at The Oval. He quit Test cricket in 2005, choosing to work as a batting coach.
Post-retirement, Thorpe began coaching New South Wales, before returning to England as the batting coach. He went on to become the assistant coach of the national team under coach Trevor Bayliss. He was part of the English coaching staff at the 2019 ODI World Cup, which they won.
In 2022, Thorpe was appointed the Afghanistan head coach but was declared "seriously ill" in hospital shortly after.
