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Sporting great Sean Long has revealed to the Sunday People he tried to kill himself in January after a two-and-a-half year battle with depression.

Long spoke with searing honesty about how his need for help led him to take ­tablets and attempt to start his car in his closed garage.

The rugby league ­phenomenon was saved by friends and family then ­sectioned.

Doctors ­released him only after his mum Pamela and brother Karl agreed to look after him.

Once a box-office ­sensation when he was a Great Britain and St Helens idol, his battle against ­depression ­intensified after he quit playing because of injury in 2011.

Long had a number of ­forays into coaching, ­including a short stint with London Broncos late last year.

But he struggled to cope with retirement from playing – and divorce from his wife Claire in 2011.

It came to a head for the dad-of-three with his suicide bid at his Wigan home on January 2.

Now the star, who rejects the Broncos’ claim he “did not meet the professions levels expected”, is trying to rebuild his life.

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Long, 37, said: “I’d just had enough. I’d lost a lot of weight, wasn’t sleeping right, and with everything going on I was trying to juggle too many plates.

"It all came crashing down.

“I just felt like I’d had enough. I didn’t know I was ill. It was a cry for help. I needed help.

“This illness is killing loads of people.

"It’s only now that I’m learning to speak to ­people about what I was ­going through that I realise a lot of people have been in this situation before.”

Long had won his sport’s every domestic honour in his 17-year career , including a record three Lance Todd Trophies as the man of the match in Challenge Cup ­finals.

He scored more than 2,500 points during 12 years at St Helens and put his body on the line for the Saints.

Never more so than when his cheekbone was broken in 2005 and his jaw in 2009.

The result was nerve ­damage that made his face uneven, which he mocks, ­characteristically.

His Twitter account reads: “Sean Bernard Long standard bloke with OBE… one big eye.”

He also had his fair share of off-field issues. He was banned for three months in 2004 after he was caught betting against St Helens.

And he was sent home from the 2006 ­Tri-Nations Down Under.

He recalled: “I didn’t finish playing on my terms really. It was the injuries.

"I didn’t know at the time but I’ve had depression and ­suffered from anxiety over two and a half years.

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“I didn’t know what ­depression was. It’s not something men talk about. I just felt a little bit weird, a little bit different.

"I had ­family problems as well.

“I tried to take an ­overdose then I was going to go into the garage and try to start the car with the door down.

“That’s all I could get in my head. Next day I couldn’t remember any of it. I found out later who helped me.”

A friend living nearby had alerted his mum and brother.

Long, whose children are 10, seven and five, is now living at Pamela’s Wigan home and is on medication.

He praises former Saints team-mates Martin Gleeson and Keiron Cunningham for helping him.

He said: “I feel the best I’ve felt in a long time. I’m wide awake and alert again. I think it’s just been nipped in the bud.

"Any ­longer and I’d have gone ­under. I was off the scale but they helped bring me back down. It’s a big thing, ­depression – it gets hold of you.

"I’m glad I’m out the ­other side.”

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