{"id":333742,"date":"2023-09-25T04:59:06","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T04:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=333742"},"modified":"2023-09-25T06:00:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T06:00:25","slug":"afl-great-reveals-fear-for-iconic-commentators-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=333742","title":{"rendered":"AFL great reveals fear for iconic commentator's health"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\ufeffconic AFL<\/a> commentator Rex Hunt has been urged to take a step back from public life to focus on his wellbeing after being admitted to a mental health facility again.<\/p>\n

Hunt, who has been vocal\ufeff about his mental health battle previously<\/a>, entered a facility in Melbourne's southeast suburbs on Friday.<\/p>\n

One of Hunt's close friends, former Geelong great Sam Newman<\/a>, urged the 74-year-old to put himself first.<\/p>\n

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"It is well documented that I am a friend of Rex Hunt and I worry for his present state of mind," Newman told News Corp.<\/p>\n

\"Rex<\/p>\n

"Rex should put on hold all his future engagements until he completes a rehabilitation course at the facility he has been admitted to.<\/p>\n

"He should give himself a break from public life and focus on his wellbeing spiritually, physically and mentally. He is a good friend, and we all want the best for him."<\/p>\n

Hunt was one of the most popular commentators in AFL history, having dominated the airwaves for 3AW\ufeff through much of the 90s and 2000s.<\/p>\n

Prior to his broadcasting career, Hunt played 202 games and kicked 276 goals, playing in two premierships with Richmond in 1969 and 1973.<\/p>\n

\"Rex<\/p>\n

Hunt spoke openly about his mental health in a podcast with Newman earlier this year, explaining how everything took a turn for the worse after he became addicted to pain killing opioids following neck surgery.<\/p>\n

"I overdosed on opioids and went downhill very, very quickly," he said.<\/p>\n

"I am completely off opioids (now). I am certainly on a couple of medications from my psychiatrist to try and level out my brain, but it is a big thing. It is a big thing in your life and it is a big thing to talk about.<\/p>\n

"If I can help somebody to understand that you can be what is normal, or quite normal in your particular mind, and the next moment you are in a straight jacket down in a facility.<\/p>\n

"It is a chemical imbalance in the brain and I have been diagnosed with bipolar depression, high highs and low lows."<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via<\/strong><\/em> lifeline.org.au<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. In an emergency, call 000<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\ufeffconic AFL commentator Rex Hunt has been urged to take a step back from public life to focus on his wellbeing after being admitted to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":333744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=333742"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333747,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333742\/revisions\/333747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/333744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=333742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=333742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=333742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}