Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson has said football was his "saviour", having contemplated taking his own life as a child.
The England international, 33, spoke at length to the High Performance Podcast, about his early life, including growing up as the eldest of six children in a single-parent household with a different father to his other siblings, spells in foster care, receiving help from foodbanks and his mother experiencing domestic abuse.
Wilson, who has recently sought therapy to help with the trauma of his childhood experiences, said he had had "suicidal moments" at the age of about 12.
Asked how he stopped those thoughts, Wilson said: "I was so young. I was just thinking this can't be all that life has to offer.
"There was more out there for me. A higher power was calling me and football really was my saviour. It was my escape.
"My mum didn't drive, so I'd always be picked up by my Sunday league coach. When I would leave my home environment, I was going into a family feel with my peers.
"My coach was fantastic. He had a nice family and they would sometimes get me food on the way home.
"I got that love and care that I probably wasn't getting as much at my house - that was not by choice and no fault of my mum's. The environment was dictating who I was becoming. Football was what helped me get away from it all."
