WWE star Randy Orton reveals mental health battle: ‘Dark place’
Randy Orton has opened up about the serious mental health problems he suffered while battling injury a few years ago.
“I didn’t see us talking about this stuff, but I started kind of getting in my head,” the WWE superstar said on the “What’s Your Story?” podcast with Stephanie McMahon. “And this is after I met [my wife]. And I have three stepsons, and I have two daughters, and I kind of got overwhelmed… I didn’t really want to get into this, but I don’t even give a f–k, like what the hell. We’re all human.”
Orton, 45, said he suffered panic attacks and took antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication around the time of his spinal fusion surgery in 2022, which was potentially career-ending.
The panic attacks, Orton said, made it hard to fly and difficult to fall asleep — he found himself staying up at night and walking around his yard at night, taking deep breaths.
“I was out for, like, a year and a half and it was like, here’s my identity. This is who I am,” Orton said. “This is like the one thing I know that I’m good at, and I get respect for, and I can’t do it anymore. And for like six months, I was under the impression that was it.”
The back issues kept Orton sidelined from WWE from May 2022 to November 2023, although he said the most difficult stretch mentally was a six-month period before he realized he could undergo career-saving surgery.
It was during that period when Orton said things got especially difficult mentally.
“When I was young, I felt so mentally strong and mentally tough and nothing could shake me. And like, I got to a dark place and I started to revert back to some of my old habits,” Orton said. “Luckily I was able to kind of nip it in the bud quick.”
With guidance from his wife, Kim, Orton began taking antidepressants, which he said he “didn’t like,” but kept taking because he felt he needed to in order to stop the panic attacks.
Orton said he has been off the medication for six months, and he also hasn’t suffered from panic attacks in six months.
Orton, a third-generation pro wrestler, made his return to the ring from the back surgery in November 2023 at Survivor Series.
He is a 14-time world champion, a two-time Royal Rumble winner, and a Money in the Bank winner.