Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) opened up about his struggle with mental health that prompted him to take a leave of absence from the Senate in a new interview with People Magazine.
Fetterman returned to the Senate this week after being treated for depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for six weeks. In the interview with People Magazine, he said that for years he did not believe his depression was “significant enough to go get help,” but his Senate campaign against Republican challenger Mehmet Oz “accelerated” his depression.
Fetterman said that his debate with Oz on Oct. 25 earmarked when the depression started to kick in, saying that he remembers reviews describing his performance a “disaster.” At the time, Fetterman was recovering from a stroke in May and was facing communication challenges as a result of the stroke, on which Republican critics pounced.
“I don’t have any regrets because I believe that I had a responsibility to do the debate, but after that point, to me, that was where the depression really started to set in,” he told People.
His wife, Gisele Fetterman, told People that even on election night, the now-senator was not as happy as someone would expect him to be.
“After he won, you expect someone to be at their highest and really happy and celebratory,” Gisele said. “And after winning, he seemed to be at the lowest. That was, for me, the moment of concern.”
Fetterman recounted that when swearing in to his new position on Capitol Hill, his “depression was in full force.” He said shortly after he was sworn in, he needed to do something to address his mental health, and ultimately made the decision to check himself in.
He said “one of the happiest days” of his life was when the neuropsychiatrist at Walter Reed told him his depression was in remission. He said that he decided to check out of Walter Reed last month once he started to feel joyful about life instead of just feeling that it is “bearable.”
“I don’t care if you’re a liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, we all can be depressed — and we all can get made healthier,” he said. “Go to the doctor or whoever you’re able to. Address your depression. I was skeptical it would make anything better, but it did. It works. And I’m so grateful.”