Laurent Duvernay-Tardif has often regretted his decision to put his soccer career on hold during the pandemic while he was advancing in his sport to help out with Quebec's CHSLDs.
The winner of the 54th Super Bowl, who has since retired from the sport, is a doctor and entrepreneur. During his weekend at True Nature Chalet, he admitted that this decision had hurt him.
“I knew that my decision not to play would potentially seal my retirement from the NFL. And that made the decision even more difficult,” he confided to Jean Philippe Dion.
“I arrived in a CHSLD and worked not as a doctor but as a beneficiary. I still remember distributing medication to patients in the morning and watching the Chiefs results on the patients' TVs… “I could be here right now”… I had my mask, my visor, my gown, my gloves… ” emphasized the ex-NFL guard, who often wondered what he was actually doing.
A damaged body
The retired athlete and owner of the bakery Le Pain dans les Voiles said that in recent years, in addition to the marks that his sport has left on his body, he has also had moments when he felt he was not entirely focused on the person that he wanted to wear. However, he reminded Jean-Philippe during Sunday night's episode of True Nature that his friends and loved ones had helped him stay grounded despite the need to distract himself.
“I don't think I would be happy just doing one thing,” he told Jean-Philippe Dion, whom he then confronted about his fear of heights.
The doctor also admitted today that he had felt the devastating physical effects on his body, which had been damaged by eight years of professional sport. “My shoulders, my elbows, my wrists, my right ankle, my hips, I have to lose weight, I have to [fasse la transition] towards sports with less impact…[…] The healthy weight is 160 pounds, I think for a man I was 320 pounds for eight years, that's definitely not healthy,” he explained.
Episodes of True Nature are also available on TVA+.