Brian O’Driscoll appeared on the Tommy Tiernan show this weekend, in which he and Tommy had an emotional conversation.
The pair spoke about mental health, and the rugby star opened up about a friend of his who died by suicide twelve years ago.
Speaking about this, Brian shared that it “never made sense” after he lost his close friend; “One of my very good friends committed suicide 12 years ago. That was probably as big as it’s gotten.”
“In some ways, because of the actual circumstances of how it happened and it was such a bolt from the blue… you don’t have the answers. You just have to accept it. It was like a moment of madness.”
He continued; “I’ve a recurring dream that I get every five or six months, he comes back into it and he’s just been away.”
“It’s actually lovely, I’m not sad when I wake up. It’s kind of nice in that moment, I’m kind of relieved.”
In particular, the 42-year-old shared that he could never quite come to terms with his death, but that these dreams sometimes helped; “The whole thing never made any sense. So just to have a moment of ‘ah that makes sense, you went away’, rather than the finite alternative.”
“At least he was back. It was like, even though you’re not going to hang out with me anymore, at least I know you’re alive. That gives a sense of comfort.”
