Jeff Hardy Opens Up About His Father’s Battle With Depression

Jeff Hardy has opened up about his father Gilbert Hardy’s mental struggles before his passing and how it affected him.

The wrestling veteran recently had an interview with Chris Van Vliet. He talked about things such as his AEW run, reuniting with his brother Jeff Hardy in TNA, a WWE Hall of Fame induction, and more.

During the interview, Hardy also went into detail of his personal struggles in the years leading up to his infamous 2021 WWE release. Jeff revealed that he had been taking care of his ailing father who was battling severe depression. Despite the difficulties, the former world champion was determined to take care of his father after having lost his mother at a very young age:

“When I left WWE in 2021 my dad had been real sick. 2017, right after we went back to WWE at Mania, that was probably around the time that he felt good for the last time before he slipped back into this dark depression. But yeah, I’d been taking care of him, and it was just bad to where he did not want to be here.

He was ready to go. Our mom died at a young age; I was 10 when she passed away. So I’ve always told myself when he needs me, I’m going to take care of him. I just did everything I could to get him excited about life and all that stuff.”

It Just Got Out of Control: Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy’s father passed away at the age of 87 on January 6, 2021. This led to the Charismatic Enigma missing the WrestleMania 37 weekend where he was supposed to take part in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

According to Hardy, this is the period where his alcohol addiction became a serious problem again. It eventually led to Hardy unexpectedly walking out of a match during a house show in December that year, leading to his WWE release:

“So that’s definitely when my drinking got carried away during those times that I’ve never really talked about. The year 2021 is when I miss WrestleMania because my dad had just passed away. April 6, my wife’s birthday, is when my dad passed away, which was strange in itself. But yeah, it just got out of control and I needed something extreme to happen. It’s sad the way it worked out.”

Jeff Hardy mentioned how he was offered the option to go to rehab but he chose not to and got released by the company. The 47-year-old was then hired by AEW. Things didn’t change for him there either however as he got another DUI in June 2022, only three months after making his debut for Tony Khan’s promotion.

Many were expecting Hardy to get a legends run with his brother Matt Hardy in the company and the direction was hinted on AEW programming as well. The arrest however, derailed Jeff’s whole run with the promotion and he was never featured significantly by the company during the rest of his time there. 

Jeff admitted elsewhere in the interview that he let his brother Matt Hardy down with his AEW mishap. Though he claimed that their current TNA run feels like an opportunity to pay Matt back for his screw up to the fullest extent.

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