SYDNEY: Former Australia’s star bowler Mitchell Johnson has revealed that he has been struggling with depression since retiring from professional cricket in 2018.

Johnson, who sits inside the top five Aussie wicket-takers across the Test, ODI and T20I formats, spoke emotionally about the issue during the filming of SAS Australia on an international sports channel.

“I’ve found it tougher since retiring from cricket,” Johnson said, adding, “All of a sudden, you’re not doing as much. You sort of lose your purpose a little bit.”

“Through my cricket career I actually just dealt with it (depression), it’s just about me now actually moving forward and taking it upon myself to be active with certain things, to keep my mind going,” Johnson added.

He further said, “I struggle with, probably, confidence at times. I’m in that transition now where I’ve been out of playing cricket for about two years. It [cricket] sort of blocked things out in a way.”

The left-arm bowler also said, “It sort of hid the depression, but there were a lot of times where you would go back to your room, you’re away from family and you start to dwell on things.”

Asked if he had found retirement hard, Johnson said, “Yeah plenty of times. I found out I’ve got depression but I think the depression was something I’ve had even from a younger age.”

Johnson feels a cricketer’s lifestyle is at times responsible for such a condition. “You have your moments where you struggle with it really bad and it can be tricky when you’ve got a lot of time to think about things,” he remarked.

“You’ve just got no control whatsoever and your mind starts playing those tricks on you, you start thinking of the worst,” the left-arm pacer concluded.

The former left-armer retired from all forms of the game in May 2018 after claiming more than 700 wickets in international fixtures and T20 leagues all over the world.