50-Year-Old Bodybuilding Veteran Recalls a Disturbing Failed Attempt at Suicide When He Was 19: “F**k It, I Shouldn’t Be Here”

Two veterans of the bodybuilding world recently came together to share their life stories during a podcast interview. The Australian former IFBB bodybuilder, Lee Priest, appeared in an interview with the Welsh bodybuilder, Flex Lewis. Herein, while sharing some tales of his life, Priest recalled the time when he tried to take his own life. Priest was just 19 years old at the time of his first and hopefully the last suicide attempt.

Back in 1990, an amateur Lee Priest was barred from participating in the Mr. Universe contest after a failed drug test. The news came as a major shock to the young bodybuilder, who has cleared two drug tests in his home country before traveling for the said competition. However, the breaking point for Priest came when he was denied permission to take another test to clear his name. This led the teenage bodybuilder to attempt to take his own life.

Lee Priest opens up about his first suicide attempt

Recently, Lee Priest appeared on the latest episode of the podcast “Straight Otta The Lair.” ‘The Blond Myth’ sat down with 7x 212 Mr. Olympia to talk about censorship, steroids, competing, etc. He also recalled the darkest time of his life, when he had lost his will to live. Soon after returning home after surprisingly failing a drug test, Priest took up a night job at a gym. Staying alone in his quarter, re-evaluating his life and condition, prompted Priest to decide he shouldn’t continue living that way.

Priest revealed that thinking about what he is eating and the conditions he was living in added to the depression. Narrating what went on in that moment, Priest said, “…in my head I’m like ‘F*k this, I’m gonna f**king cut my wrists.’ I go to the kitchen. I grab a knife and I’m sitting and I go ‘Am I going to do it? F**k it, I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be fu*king doing anything.”

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Giving up on himself in that moment of weakness, Priest cut his wrists. When he deemed that the cut wasn’t deep enough, he made another cut in the same spot. The sting that followed brought him back to reality and Priest soon called for help.

Priest feels fortunate to have survived

Soon after Priest was hit by reality, he called his mother and informed her what he had done. With his mother’s help, Lee Priest made it to the hospital and got his wounds treated. Equating his actions to just a moment of weakness, Priest said that he got lucky that day. “That’s why sometimes it happens because okay, I got lucky it was a blunt knife. Imagine if I had a gun. It would’ve been ‘boom!’ and there would be no coming back,” said the 50-year-old Blond Myth.

Just a day after the attempt, Lee Priest returned to his normal life and went back to training again. Though Priest never succeeded in clinching an Olympia title, he had one of the best physiques in history. 4x. Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler, dubbed 20-year-old Priest’s physique as the freakiest one he had ever seen.

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Do let us know what you think about this shocking revelation, below in the comments section.