A couple of days ago, in the wake of NHL legend Claude Lemieux's suicide, I asked what drove him to take his own life scarcely 48 hours after receiving cheers from Montreal Canadiens fans prior to Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference Final between the Habs and Carolina Hurricanes:
When I look at the scene in which Lemieux is greeted by thunderous applause, it is only natural to wonder what happened in the final hours of his life.
Lemieux was found by one of his sons in the warehouse of their family business. Were there financial problems? Had he been recently diagnosed with an incurable illness? Or has Lemieux been battling depression his whole life despite being a four-time Stanley Cup champion and just decided he couldn't take it anymore? If this was the case, was going from thunderous applause to isolation his breaking point? Did he talk to anyone or did he feel too ashamed to do so?
Well, it would appear that Lemieux had been suffering from long-term depression. According to an article from the New York Post, Lemieux had been estranged from his children and was distressed that he had never been selected for the Hockey Hall of Fame. Longtime Montreal hockey columnist Réjean Tremblay also suggested, after speaking with Lemieux's close friends, that the applause he received on Monday night at the Bell Centre might have been too much to bear. "It’s possible that surge of love, that wave of love on Monday evening, triggered an emotion that was too intense,” Tremblay said, “It might have reawakened old pains, old suffering.”
For their part, Lemieux's family has announced that the hockey legend's brain will be donated to Boston University's CTE Center and has given the institution permission to release their findings. If it can be determined that Lemieux had CTE, it could shed some light on his decision to take his own life.
Whatever their findings, it is clear that Claude Lemieux had burdens with which he could not cope.
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