Sports and entertainment
Published January 16, 2024, 8:39 p.m. ET
Kendra Wilkinson, the ex-wife of former NFL player Hank Baskett and former reality TV star, opened up about her mental health struggle in a new interview with People.
It was the first time Wilkinson had spoken publicly about it since she was hospitalized after a panic attack in September.
“I died of depression,” Wilkinson said in the emotional interview about the September incident. “I had reached the end of my life and developed psychosis. I felt like I wasn’t strong enough to live anymore.”
Since then, Wilkinson has been working on her mental health and beginning to confront the damage caused while living in the Playboy Mansion.
Wilkinson became a household name at 18 and was one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends on the E! Reality show “Girls Next Door.”
The former reality star said she had a hard time looking back on her life in her 20s and had to “face my demons.”
Kendra Wilkinson spoke about her journey in an interview with People. Getty Images
“Playboy really messed up my whole life,” said Wilkinson, who went back to the hospital a week after the Sept. 6 visit and was given antipsychotic medication.
Wilkinson began outpatient therapy three times a week at UCLA and began dealing with unresolved issues from her time with Hefner and her very public and painful divorce from Basket in 2019.
The 38-year-old described the dark situation she found herself in before ultimately asking Baskett to take her to the hospital to get help.
Wilkinson said it was the “lowest point I've ever been in my life” and she felt like she had “no future.”
Kendra Wilkinson opened up about her mental health journey. kendrawilkinson/Instagram
“It was so scary for me to have to go through that,” said Wilkinson, who shares son Hank IV, 14, and daughter Alijah Mary, 9, with Baskett. “I wasn’t focusing on myself or my mental health. Here I was a single mother and alone for years. But it's also easy to feel like the world is crumbling in front of you. I tried to fight it on my own. I tried to cure it myself but that doesn't work. I isolated myself, hid, blamed myself, and blamed the world. I spiraled out of control and felt like I wasn’t strong enough to survive.”
She called the day Wilkinson asked for help from Baskett, whom she divorced in 2018, a “big day” for herself and her family.
“Accepting help that day and having Hank drive me to the hospital was a big day in our lives,” she said. “It was a big day for my family and my children. It wasn't until I got there that I realized how much I was suffering or what people saw of me. I really had to look in the mirror and say, 'I need help.'”
Wilkinson told People that she was feeling better and that the day of the interview was “the first time in a long time that I felt like myself.”
Holly Madison (left to right), Hugh Hefner, Bridget Marquardt, Kendra Wilkinson promote “Girls Next Door”. ©E! Network/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
But she also acknowledged that there are still some challenges ahead as she continues to work on her mental health.
“Depression doesn’t just go away,” she said. “It’s something that stays with you throughout your life. You just have to learn to deal with it and accept it. And it's a part of me. What therapy did was build this tool system for me. So now I have the strength – I have the strength and the foundation that I need to overcome my depression.”
Wilkinson and Baskett were married for ten years before divorcing in 2018.
TV personality Kendra Wilkinson Baskett, son Hank, daughter Alijah and Hank Baskett arrive at the Monster Jam Celebrity Event at Angel Stadium on February 24, 2018. Getty Images for Field Entertainm
Baskett spent five seasons in the NFL, playing for the Eagles, Colts and Vikings.
He appeared in 67 NFL games and recorded 77 catches for 1,098 yards and six touchdowns.
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