Johnny Manziel Says In His New Netflix Doc That He Attempted Suicide After The Browns Released Him In 2016 But The Gun Malfunctioned
The now-30-year-old Manziel recalled the dark period of his life in the new Netflix documentary, “Untold: Johnny Football,” revealing how he “went and bought a gun that I knew I was gonna use.”
“I think I was just running from problems,” Manziel said. “Direct self-sabotage, trying to burn this thing down. I had planned to do everything that I wanted to do at that point in my life. Spend as much money as I possibly could, and then my plan was to take my life.
“Months prior, went and bought a gun that I knew I was gonna use. I wanted it to get as bad as humanly possible to where it made sense, and it made it seem like an excuse and an out for me.”
Manziel, who has been candid about his struggle with substance abuse, then detailed how the firearm malfunctioned.
“Still, to this day, I don’t know what happened, but the gun just clicked on me,” he said.
Wild and sad story from Manziel here ahead of the Netflix documentary that's dropping on Tuesday. Every so often I'll go back and watch Johnny's A&M tapes because they're true classics. The swag he had and the skills to match. Pure electricity in what we'll likely never see again in the sport. Just even looking at this 1 minute TikTok gets me hyped:
It's a true shame it didn't pan out for him in the NFL in what seemingly was a huge battle with mental health. Manziel has been an easy target of internet trolls for years, so it's no surprise to see a lot of dancing under the Twitter (X?) replies. Revealing your most vulnerable moments is certainly commendable though, especially since it might help someone in distress who looks up to him. The fall from grace is never an easy one.
The Netflix documentary apparently goes through all of that timeline and seems like a great watch for next week:
Respect to Johnny for being candid about his struggles.