Hulk Hogan had hit "rock bottom" in his personal life at the time his sex tape was made.
Hulk Hogan with son Nick
The 61-year-old wrestler has been engulfed in a controversy in recent days since reports surfaced that Hogan had been recorded using racist language while speaking about his daughter Brooke Hogan's love interests on the unauthorised sex tape, which leaked online in 2012.
Hogan has now shed light on what was going on in his life at the time the tape was recorded and he used the 'N-word', revealing the events happened when he was suffering from depression which ultimately resulted in him contemplating suicide.
Responding to a fan on Twitter who had questioned his actions, Hulk wrote: "That's not who I am, I hit rock bottom 8yrs ago and made a mistake for that I am eternally sorry, only love my brother. HH (sic)"
Hogan has openly admitted he considered taking his own life as his depression took hold in the wake of his wife Linda Hogan filing for divorce in November 2007, which followed the cancellation of his reality TV show 'Hogan Knows Best' and the eventual jailing of his son Nick Hogan in May 2008 for reckless driving which caused a crash which left his best friend John Graziano with life changing injuries.
The grappler confessed he started abusing alcohol and Xanax and got to the point where he sat in his empty home holding a gun to his head.
He previously told Oprah Winfrey in an interview: "I kinda hit rock bottom. Everything got dark, everything happened at once. I was drinking alcohol very heavily. It just all kept piling up, it all kept mounting and mounting I didn't know how to handle it. I always wondered how could someone possibly take their own life, and so I got to that point where I said, ''You know what, maybe this would be easy. You know, maybe this would be an easy way to fix things.' "
Hogan was snapped out of his depression by his fans and friends and went on to find love again with his current wife Jennifer McDaniel.
Hogan - real name Terry Bollea - has been overwhelmed by all the people who have offered him their support in the last few days since WWE terminated his contract in the wake of the race scandal on Friday (24.07.15).
He tweeted: "Thank you to all my friends, family and business partners for all your love and support, you guys know who I really am and I love u 4 that (sic)"
One friend who has publicly supported him in the wake of the scandal is WWE Hall of Fame star Scott Hall who believes the company shouldn't have terminated his contract and instead should have offered him counselling.
Hall - who was part of the nWo wrestling faction with Hogan in both WCW and WWE - tweeted: "I thought the answer would be counselling for Hulk. Big over reaction by WWE ... It was in the past. Kinda funny people are less concerned he's in bed with his buddies wife (sic)"
Hogan has a $100 million lawsuit pending against Gawker - the website that leaked the sex tape - for invasion of privacy. It will go to court later this year.
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