NEWSHulk Hogan Almost Killed Himself Years Before Sad Death: 'My Finger Was on the Trigger'
Hulk Hogan battled depression throughout his career.
July 24 2025, Published 1:42 p.m. ET
Hulk Hogan almost died by suicide years before his shocking passing on Thursday, July 24.
In his 2009 memoir, My Life Outside the Ring, the WWE legend opened up about his difficult battle with depression and the series of events that led to Hogan deciding whether he wanted to kill himself two years prior.
"A gun was in my hand and my finger was on the trigger and I was thinking, It would just be so easy," he wrote in the tell-all book published more than a decade before the 71-year-old was pronounced dead at Morton Plant Hospital in Florida.
Inside Hulk Hogan's Near-Suicide Attempt
The WWE legend almost killed himself in December 2007.
Years after making wrestling mainstream in the 1980s, the Hulkster faced intense mental health struggles amid his ex-wife Linda Hogan filing for divorce in November 2007 — one month before Hulk nearly took his own life.
"I popped half a Xanax and took another swig from the big bottle of Captain Morgan’s I’d set on the counter," he penned in his memoir.
WWE Star Distraught by Divorce
Hulk Hogan recalled putting a gun to his head in his bathroom amid mental health struggles.
"The house was empty. Too quiet. I don’t do well alone. My kids were gone. My wife was gone. She had left before, but this was different. She didn’t want to fix things. She’d filed for divorce — actually went to a lawyer and filed papers after twenty-three years," he said of Linda. "My mind kept running through it all, over and over."
"My daughter thinks I’m the reason Linda left. There’s so much I want her to understand, but she won’t talk to me. She won’t hear my side of the story," he added of his daughter, Brooke, 37, who recently found herself in headlines for publicly feuding with her mom and dad.
Hulk Hogan Left Shaken by Son Nick's 2007 Car Crash
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Hulk Hogan died after reportedly suffering cardiac arrest on Thursday, July 24.
In the book, Hulk then mentioned how it had been four months since his son, Nick, 34, had gotten into a "terrible car accident" that landed both him and his friend Jack in the hospital.
According to Sam & Ash Injury Law., John suffered severe brain damage as a result of the crash, with doctors "expecting him to need nursing care for the rest of his life." Nick, however, didn't sustain any serious, life-threatening injuries.
Hulk Hogan opened up about his near-suicide attempt in his 2009 memoir.
"Maybe I should just do it," Hulk continued. "Only cowards commit suicide. My family would be better off without me. What about the kids? I’m gonna do this. Just pull the trigger. Why not end it? Just do it, Hogan. Do it."
"That could have been the end of me right there — that night in early December 2007, in the bathroom at the big house in Clearwater that everybody’d seen on Hogan Knows Best," he admitted. "I could picture the crime scene. The news stories. The whole thing. Obviously I didn’t kill myself — but I came d--- close."
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.
